Dissemination
by Cethulu
Summary: Everyone reaches a breaking point, and when things break they are changed irreparably. But sometimes enough superglue can make them kinda work again. Mostly. (a chara!sans fic. no ships, although soriel if you have your ship goggles on when they interact... maybe. Now, finally complete.)
1. Chapter 1 - Over and over

So... it's the same chapter, but I was cross-posting to Amino and I realised that despite having proof-read this thing at least 6 times, I had a lot of cleaning up to do. A LOT. Most of that was cleaning up pronouns when switching between Sans and Chara as I would default to 'he/him' for some stupid reason - like I literally always refer to Frisk/Chara as 'they/them' when doing literally anything else. So... yeah. Here's Chapter 1 again guys X'D

* * *

10

25

53

79

154

279

Why? Why was it taking this damned long? This many SAVE files? Never before had it taken them this much…. Well, everything… to beat the damned skeleton before. What had he done differently this run? It was around the 300th attempt Chara noticed he was making miniscule changes to his patterns. An inch here, a cm there, small changes to his speeds – just enough to throw their dodges off. Not enough to be noticed at first. Well, that was new.

 _I thought you were against hard work, you damned lazy ass. You are making me work hard enough, why the HELL hasn't he got to the cheating or the time freeze yet? Mind you …_ Chara grinned to themselves _it's been a long time since I've had to concentrate on a fight this much. Trust Sans to bring the fun back._ A shame the fun quickly dissipated back to frustration and anger as the patterns they knew so well kept changing.

On the 371st try (Sans might have given up counting but they sure hadn't), Chara decided on a different tack. They'd finally broke through to the offer of mercy a couple of times by now and completely ignored it so far. This time round, when Sans came to the offer of standing down - they didn't know why he still tried… maybe the fool was waiting for Frisk to suddenly burst forth or something. _Tch, yeah, right. That muppet was well under their control. Full puppet muppet (Az would probably like that one - they had a thought. Maybe they should share it before they kill him this go around, assuming he hasn't learned his lesson about betraying them yet. Eh, maybe. Actually, probably not was the answer to both of those things.)_ Chara decided to pause for thought on the offer, taking advantage of the moment to to think. Sans hated them, but maybe that promise is enough to get him to stand down or stand still long enough… a trick? Might work. Maybe. They never showed mercy, so he wouldn't be expecting it. Make him drop his guard? A brief look over and he was still stood in that non-committal stance with his hands in his pockets. Chara growled in frustration at the unreadable face and tossed down the knife in his hands, ready to pop open the invento  
ry and grab another weapon the moment they had an opening.  
 **"really? you make me do all this work and you ain't even gonna see it through to the end?"  
** "No,"Their hands make the most miniscule of shifts towards their inventory, eyes narrowing slightly at the tone. It wasn't angry or playful, just seemed to be… Bored. That really riled them up. Man, this was one timeline they were reeeeeeeeeeally going to enjoy killing this clown. "Bored now. I don't know what you've done, what you've changed, but I'm obviously not going to win."

Sans shrugs his shoulders like it was slightly unexpected but says simply **"don't come back, then"** before hundreds of bones pierced through Chara before they even had time to react, and then they're back at the end of the corridor. Chara snaps at the smug tone of the skeleton.  
 **"hehe, did I getcha?"** They go through another 56 attempts before they can see more than angry pulsating red through Frisk's eyes.

 _GodfuckingDAMNHIM!_

Before this new attempt though, Chara takes a moment to think after the initial barrage, which was really hard when their anger felt like thousands of buzzing wasps in their brain. An idea came to them. An option they never use because they know the underground like the back of their hand. Or, did, until something apparently changed.

 ***CHECK**

 **"you like what you see there, buddy?"**

The skeleton was still fucking grinning, eye flashing ready. Did Chara detect a note of… glee there? What got him so excited all of a su-

*Sans 1 attack 1 defence

*HE'S FILLED WITH DETERMINATION

 ***you're gonna have a Bad Time**

Well, shit, that was also new. The fact the last line was in his stupid goofy font irked them further, too. Chara launched into another set of futile swings before…. Yep, there's the load. New bones from behind, sneaky damned skeleton. But how? Was this like Undyne? No, that happens after they kill her.

...However...

This gave Chara an idea. They felt Frisk's soul flinch away from the mix of desperation and delirious malicious glee that suddenly overcame them. You're not the only one that can be sneaky, clown. They was gonna force an end to this fight on their own terms because they were taking too long here, they had things to do. No. It wasn't ideal, but it was way more ideal than being stuck in an endless loop of fighting here. If it worked. If it didn't work, they would just have to load again anyway, the way this fight was going. They could always start this run again after the reset; Frisk was wrapped pretty well around their finger by now. Give them time to think about how to combat this again if it came up… and they had a feeling it would, based on that lazy shit-eating grin on that stupid skeleton's stupid face. They would have to find out what Sans did, some way or another. No time to think on it while they were fighting this hard. Without thinking on it much further, Chara hit the new ACT option that appeared on the board in red writing. Their writing. They dropped the knife before lunging at Sans empty-handed before he could speak on their move. This startled him enough that he didn't quite move out the way quick enough.

They would end this. They were DETERMINED to end it.

Fingertips brushed the rib cage before he teleported out of the way.

 _Perfect._

Earlier:

Sans jolted awake, feeling the vague warmth of the sun fade off his face. Oh joy, another reset. Not that he was bothered any more, the general state of apathy and tiredness put paid to that long ago. He suspected that no amount of puns and pranks were going to hide his darkened mood today, thoughts churning, trying to hold onto any fuzzy detail possible. That was the worst thing about this: being aware of the reset but not knowing enough to know what to change to stop the resets. The trouble was, until he knew what speed the fan was going that the fertilizer was gonna hit, he couldn't plan. He pulled the blanket over his head and wondered if he could feign illness to stay on the couch. _**nope, because that would get papyrus' bones trousling and that was a no-go.**_ Welp. Looks like he's sleeping in the sentry stand for a few hours,later. Plus that would wind up Papyrus, which is always fun. Heh, actually that might really cheer him up for a bit. He rolls back over and throws the blanket off, stretching out and resigning himself to getting up and tossing some clothes on before taking a shortcut out to the basement so as not to wake his brother by opening doors. and by 'wake' he means 'alert him to the fact Sans was awake' because he's pretty sure Pap is probably awake. Friggin' early bird. He gives himself a minute before starting to make his way through all his notes methodically, looking for anything new to be seen in them. This room always struck him as a little funny when he first came in because if Pap saw this room it might actually give him a stroke from how neat it was. But he never could work messy.

Nothing here, huh. He pauses to smile at the warm feeling that one note gives him on his soul... 'door to ruins = queen fluffybuns.' and scrawled quickly underneath it 'protect kid (unless they kill everyone).' and under that 'pattern? asks day before human comes out. sleeps there why?'. Well, except a new picture of the kid with 30 hotdogs on his head. He actually laughs at that one, brief but true. So it had been a nice timeline again. Those were the ones he wasn't sure whether he was wistful to remember or the most thankful he didn't remember. He added it back to the bottom of the pile of snap-shot moments he had gathered, and flicked through more carefully. The notes had started off so detailed, gathering all the information the could, but now it was just the briefest details of the most important things to help him keep track – he hadn't even got back into the habit of making more detailed notes when the flower had stopped being the one with the reset and saves. knowing too much is worse than not knowing enough. Three in a row it looks like, which meant a not so favourable one was almost inevitable. He sighed, looked over at the cloth covering the broken machine, tsk'd himself, then took another shortcut back to his room. He collapsed on his unmade bed, feeling exhausted already, not even grabbing the pillow from the side or moving the ball of sheets.

"BROTHER? GET OUT OF BED YOU LAZY BONES! WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE!" **_...g'morning, papyrus._** He groaned quietly into the matress and heaved himself back out of bed. He didn't even get a nap in before Papyrus was awake. Damn. Time to go.

The day passed like normal. He 'saw' Toriel at the door, he napped, he got yelled at for napping, punned his way through everything, got yelled at for punning his way through everything, spent a few hours at Grillby's, got yelled at for spending a few hours at Grillby's... the usual. He contemplated trying to drastically change the routine, but didn't want to risk stirring things up too much before the human comes through. Besides, what was the point? Why bother trying? Nothing would change in the end. Furthermore, what evidence did he have besides a bunch of notes that would make him look like a raving madman to anyone but himself (or Alphys, maybe with some convincing, but she had enough on her plate, he figured) if he decided to really shake things up. He had to chuckle to himself quietly. There's almost something comfortable about the routine, anyway. It's easy, that's for sure. Easy requires little effort, which is more than fine by him.

So he settled for routine. It was the third evening that Toriel makes her request for his promise. He falters on it, so much so that she shakingly goes to retract it, but he cuts her off and accepts, weaving in a pun. It sets her to laughing again, more than she had all of the conversation so far, and that lifts his soul a little. Every time she laughed, it did make him feel a little better about everything.

Maybe that's why he spends so much time here.

Maybe he should make an earlier visit tomorrow instead of just waiting for the kid to come out and have a quick chat with her before they come through whichever of them it is. _**hopefully we get lucky again, kid seems to be on a roll.**_ Doesn't seem to matter what time he comes through, she always seems to answer eventually if she's not... if she's there. Eventually, he excuses himself and goes home and starts the evening routine. He has a bad feeling trying to creep in on him, but pushes it away and gets as much broken sleep as he can gather together. Vague nightmares jolt him awake, deja vu haunting him but keeping everything so frustratingly vague.

 _ **-bad feeling, bad feeling, bad feeling, bad feeling-**_

He knows to trust his gut by now, and takes a shortcut to the door. Mostly on this new instinct more than anything else. He arrives to heart-dropping sounds. The muffled tearing of flesh and cloth, and Toriel's shocked gasp muffled by stone.

no no nonono-

He'd been expecting it, the bad one. But hearing this... it tore at him in an all new way. There was no deja vu here, usually just in time to intercept.

"Y... You... really hate me that much? Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here. Not you... But them!" He hears her sadly laughing before the sound fades, that sound chips at his soul in a way he didn't think himself possible anymore.

Sans took a step into the trees, rage flaring his eyes into darkness and cyan. Screw this timeline, if he kills them before anyone else gets hurt- he quietly laughs to himself before settling in to hide back in the trees. this ain't for everyone else, and it doesn't make a difference in the end anyway. He's had enough and he's angry; he lets them walk through to the bridge, before appearing behind them. They turn, expecting him, and he notices a flash of fear go through their face as they notice the eye and the flare of magic already going down his hand, the yellow in it shining most prominently right now.

 _ **good**_.

Then they smirk at him as he raises his hand, fear gone, as magic is flaring down his hand and fingers. "It's too early, Sansy~" and they flee before he has a chance to wrap the magic around their soul. Shit. He contemplates chasing them down, but then he knows that Papyrus would intervene at the sound of a fight. **_pap's too sweet... i ain't gonna be the one to ruin that about him. so... i need a plan._** He takes a shortcut to his lab, and starts tearing through papers. Has to be something he missed or a clue somewhere. He growls in frustration and tosses things to the ground, then stands with his hands on a counter, forcing himself to calm down. Before even he knows what he is doing, he's porting into Alphys' lab.

"Sans!" she shrieks and throws up the papers she was carrying in surprise at his sudden appearance in front of her. "I-I-I s-saw you c-confront the h-h-human. W-what's going on?"  
 **"you just said you saw the video, didn'cha? they came out of the ruins, hands covered in dust and a smile on their face."  
** "B-but you don't normally f-f-f-" She shakes her head. "Nevermind. S-so it's as bad as I-I-I thought i-it was g-going to be when I-I saw them l-leave? I w-was hoping it was j-just me o-overthinking..." She trails off, looking kind of sad. He wants to slap the expression off her face (only a little bit) and shoves his hands further down into his pockets with his fists balled from the urge.  
 **"start evacuating."** Hopefully the heads up will be enough to save more lives than normal, not that it actually matters... He trails away from that thought making an actual effort to push past the apathy closing around him as she scurries past the door – that door - to head up the up escalator, urgently making calls.

...Now that's something that he hasn't made a note of trying before, probably because it was the stupidest idea in a landmine field of stupid ideas. It's dangerous, probably a guaranteed death sentence, but he laughs to himself. this timeline's gonna to be one anyway. He takes a shortcut to his own lab while Alphys is distracted, leaves a hasty message on top of the desk that simply reads 'if things go bad, stay determined?' then ports back to Alphys, waiting just long enough for her to finish her next phone call while she is frantically punching things out on her computer that she's now at, and it sounds like she has got everything moving fast.

He takes his hands out of his pockets and crosses his arms over, leaning on the wall next to her, eye sockets dark in sombre contemplation.

 **"how much determination have you got left?"  
** He doesn't even flinch as she nearly breaks the keyboard she started typing at as her claws dig into it with her body going rigid. She starts stuttering so hard that it takes every ounce of his patience -and he has got real good at being patient- to wait for her to take a breath and get her thoughts together She starts winding her claws together nervously.  
"I... Y-you..." She sighs, a look of resignation crossing her face. "What a-are you th-th-thinking, Sans?"#  
 **"i'm thinking that none of us are going to win against the brat, and i need to try something that i hope is new."** He holds up a hand to interrupt her, as he's looking like she wants to say something. **"there's things going on here that it'll take too long to explain right now, but just think about how I knew to be there for the kid. i'll... tell you what i know if i can make it so we survive this to the end..."** He specifically doesn't make it a promise because he knows that neither of them are gonna remember this. Also, he really hates making promises. another long pause.

 **"so...?"**

"I-I... I think there... might be some left. I kn-know I should h-h-have-" He cuts her off again, letting his eyes settle, and shrugs at her, going back into the more familiar to her, non-committal air that he normally has.  
 **"walk and talk, alph. we're boned if we don't move fast."** She starts walking, muttering to herself quietly about how it wasn't the time for puns. He chuckles as she says it. There's always time for puns, not that it had been at all intentional this time. He wraps the bag of dog food in blue magic and floats it behind them.  
"Th-thanks..." After they take the elevator down in tense silence -although Alphys does start and stop what are probably questions several times, then settles for looking him over, doing a primary assessment and a *CHECK - Alphys does say something he had briefly considered since this half-baked plan entered his head. "Sans... w-with your... with your HP so low, I-I-I d-don't know if y-you'd... if you'd s-survive the t-transfusion." she finishes meekly. He does nothing but shrug, though. That and put the bag of food down as soon as they walk out the elevator.  
 **"we don't win anyway. way i see it, what's there to lose?"** She lapses back into silence, starting to wind her claws together again. They walk briskly to a room near the back, full of flowers – dead and alive - and some cabinets. Creepy. The yellow flowers send a creeping chill up his spine. He hates that flower, too, but that's an issue seemingly over with for now... he should probably check up on that during one of the next resets coming. He hunches his shoulders a bit more, slinking in on himself a bit. Alphys digs in the cabinet a bit, and finds something. She stands up, and turns to him, a set look on her face.  
"I-if we're doing th-this," she holds up a claw "Y-you let me e-e-e-examine you properly first." He sighs, but nods and sits himself up on a counter, letting the flowers drop to the floor.  
 **"fine."**

He holds a palm up, and lets his soul drift up and out so it floats just above his palm. He hated doing this, especially with his HP problem. Monster souls only persist for moments after dusting, and while he hasn't dusted through doing this yet, the idea of him dusting because it was in one of the suspension cylinders really didn't appeal. But he sucked it up if it would give him an answer quicker; also it was far better than sitting in the scanners themselves - the thought of which shudders through him. She takes it gently and puts it in a container that she had dug out, swiftly taking to... wherever. He didn't feel much like following at the moment. Plus, he had worked with Alphys enough to know she would be careful enough with it. As he was sat waiting, he felt his eyes drifting closed. He'd been so rushed up until now – first time in a while, actually, that he'd felt quite so motivated – that he hadn't... even...

It seemed like no time at all before Alphys was shaking him awake and snapping his name in a tone that was half- angry and half-panicked. He expected a berating over falling asleep at a time like this, but that drained away as soon as he saw her face.

 **"uh oh... you ok there, alph?"**

"U-Undyne... I-I ch-checked the m-m-monitors while..." She wiped her eyes then made a massive effort to keep herself together. "W-Whatever we are doing, we need to do it soon." Hardly even a stutter.

Sans didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.

Both, by the sounds of things. She handed him the container then started pulling out charts and tables while he put his soul back in place. "I-I've never seen a-anything like this. Sans, look." She pushes charts at him, looking even more flustered. It's things he has seen before when he was trying to put his finger on his HP issue. He'd flagged it as strange but he was no scholar in soul study, and had only really been on the engineering side of Asgore's little project, so didn't realised it was that strange. "Th-These readings are... too high for a m-monster soul. I think th-that's what's c-causing the... HP issue... o-of course, I c-can't say for s-sure without o-other tests, but... never mind. W-with these r-readings... y-you should be a-able to sustain w-with determination, b-b-but... i-it might just be an e-extended period...b-before..."

He gives her a genuine smile.

 **"that's all we need to give this a real shot."**


	2. Chapter 2 - Fleeting unity

/Sans, you lazy bum, can you at least try to capitalise yourself? XDDD Always let me know how you think i am doing. Will update as I go.\\\

He teleports a second too late, feeling the fingertips brushing the bones under cloth, right over where his soul was. He summons an array of blasters, but the sudden slump in the shoulders, look of fear and tearful voice calling his name force him to redirect at the last minute, taking out most of the floor and wall in a series of long, smouldering gouges. **_b_** _ **ut why?  
**_ "Sans, I- I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I-I don't know where they've gone, either." The corners of his smile drop slightly, pulling into the closest thing to a frown he can manage and brushes aside the vague feelings of familiarity for a moment, and looses a blast. They don't even try to dodge.

Back down the corridor, he stands at the end waiting for the start of this again. He still couldn't remember exactly what happened between the saves, but it seemed to be more than the usual deja vu that he builds his well-educated guesses on. Enough for him to adapt and change, not to mention the fact that he actually felt like he could keep this up for as long as it took. Determination is a hell of a thing, huh? But the kid wasn't walking forward, and he could hear the sound of gentle sobs from down by the box. What was going on now? **_t_ _rap? maybe_**. He didn't drop his guard, but slowly walked towards the end of the hallway.  
 **"we gonna do this or what?"  
** "They're… Chara's not here, Sans. I swear." The kid stands and drops the knife, tears still streaming. "I don't know what they were planning but they were angry and desperate and I don't know how they did it at all but I c-can't reset this timeline until I reach the barrier… I've tried it before… I think it might be something to do with the magic there..." Sans' only reaction was to take a step back, then he wasn't sure where exactly the feelings came from that led to flaring a magic barrage of blaster and bone that the kid didn't even try to avoid. Quickest back to the end of the corridor ever that he could remember. Not that he remembers much, but still. He shook his head, trying to remember what had happened. Something about … two of them? Maybe? Kid didn't dodge this time, he knew that. What…?

"Please listen!" He heard the tearful voice ring out. He stood where he was, and remained there. The child took that as a sign to approach, and did so. Slowly, but resolved this time. No weapon in hand. It was enough that he didn't flare any magic, but his eye sockets were dark and serious as he stood ready "I don't want to fight… I… don't want to fight now…" they sigh softly, and wait to see if the skeleton was going to move.

He stood firm.

"I…" they paused, seemed to pull his words together in their head beforethey laid them out. "It's name is Chara, I'm Frisk. I…" they wiped a few leaked tears away before carrying on with determination layering their voice. "I never wanted this. I'm so sorry. It started many times ago, I was stupid, I was curious, and I made a mistake. I attacked a couple of the smaller monsters just to see what would happen, would regret and stop before we got this far, but soon it… got out of control. I knew about Chara's past but didn't realise… By the time I tried to stop and just reset everything, I wasn't in control any more. And that's when I found out I couldn't reset until the barrier is out of the way. I don't know why. Any attempt I've made this time either just puts me back to the save or just flat-out doesn't work. So I need to go past, then… I can… reset, and make things the way they are supposed to be. Save _everyone_."  
 **"you say that like you aren't just gonna reset the timeline again after you do."** San's didn't bother trying to colour the tone of his voice away from anger and disgusted, and he sees that raise goosebumps along the kid's arms. He was being harsh and he knew it.  
"Because I haven't saved everyone yet. No matter what I do differently… There's one I can never seem to save." They say it sadly, sighs, slumping in on themself.  
"and starting to kill people was a way to do that?" Sans thinks on this as the kid just morosely lowers their head, then runs a mitt over his skull. His pupils fade in as he sighs. He's judge, and sometimes… sometimes that job sucked. He turns to stare at Frisk, weighing up their soul and the marks left on it by the genocide they had committed. The EXP was still there, but the soul didn't match to the LV that it ticked in at. LV that high makes the soul look different to what he was seeing right now. **_how did this get MORE complicated?_** The whole time he was weighing the kid up, Frisk just sat there with his face downturned and hands balled in their lap.

 **"do you know where my lab is?"** Frisk turned in surprise, before nodding. **"well, what I want you to do is go back to there, record everything about this, and put it in a place where I will find it. I'll wait here for you to come back.** **and you will come back. if I have to come and find you …"** he let the implied threat tail off, and went and sat behind a pillar against a wall, ready to wait. Frisk said nothing and turned back to run out the door they had entered by. He closed his eyes and allowed himself the luxury of a light doze until he sensed a re-entry into the hallway. He felt vague, distant thoughts that felt alien to him, ones that raged and seethed, but he tempered them down and pushed them back as much as possible, trying to digest the information that he had just discovered while trying to grab some rest. He would see how the soul looked after trudging back to Snowdin and then back here through a desolate and dusty wasteland, and weigh the options as he currently saw them based on that.

 ** _one: keeping killing the kid. might make me feel better, but not my most shining option right now. I really don't fancy living and fighting in an empty wasteland for eternity or until this determination does who knows what to my body and soul. But it would delay the reset or the end… until I can't fight them any more, assuming the worst on the determination thing._**

 ** _two: take them to asgore myself, if the soul backs the kid's words. That fuzzy pushover is more likely to offer him a cup of tea than kill the kid, especially if I judge him to be different enough to be let through. The end of the timeline was coming, but without being to go back and check the data, he couldn't say whether he'd managed to delay it back into a loop this time around._**

 ** _three: let the kid go through alone no matter what and let the chips fall where they may. least amount of work, which sounds appealing right now, but again right now not the most pragmatic option._**

 ** _four: take the kid's soul and the others and break the barrier yoursel-_** he shook his head in disbelief at himself. Where had that come from? It wasn't much of a joke, and it had never ever occurred to him before. It definitely wasn't an option. _**stress and weirdness. i'm letting this whole situation get to me, i think.**_ He drags a hand down his face then thought on it a little more, deciding option two was the most practical, before going back to his light doze. He didn't feel safe enough to get a heavy sleep.

A long while later - admittedly, not as long as he thought or was allowing for - he heard light footsteps start to echo through the hall. He cracked open an eye socket, then pushed himself to his feet and walked out to the central hall seeing that it was (somewhat obviously) the kid. The entry couldn't have been more different than the confident swagger of the first time round. Shoulders slumped, gentle shake through the body, now he felt a little cruel for not letting them take a shortcut. He didn't need to even look at the soul -although he did- to make up his mind. But… **"one last thing."** his sockets darken. **"we finish this thing, you set it out straight and get us up there, and that's it."** The kid started to nod, but he holds up a hand. **"no matter if you save everyone or not. no more. or this is as far as you go."** The eye flashed and he lets a curl of magic around the gloved hand. The kid hesitates, seeming to mull it over, then nods solemnly. He dissipates the magic, and his pupils fade back in, and stands to lead the way. And despite everything, sees their trembling slow a bit. _**huh**. _He starts them down the corridor, making their way to Asgore.  
"Sans? What is going on here…?" He's perplexed to see Sans come through as well, he's always been quite vocal about the flowers here and why he'd rather 'chill' in the hallway.  
 **"i thought we'd pop by. they need to get to the barrier."** He motioned at Frisk who was still stood hunched and shamefaced slightly behind him.  
"Sans… Did you help them...?" He questioned, sounding like he was thinking all the wrong things. Sans felt yet another flare of anger go through him at that, _**i know how to do my job asgore**_ \- What was going on, he's normally much less quick to anger - much less quick to care about that kind of thing. Maybe it was just a side effect, maybe the DT was kicking the apathy to the kerb which was kind of what he was hoping for in a way. **_t_ _his is what happens when people like me take it easy._** words that felt they were spoken more often than he would prefer. Frisk is shaking their head vigorously. Sans goes to speak but Asgore is already finishing his thought aloud. "But… the flower never mentioned you-"

 ** _did he say-  
FLOWER?!_**

He came back to his senses, and he froze. Frisk was hanging off his hand pleading with him to stop and show mercy, Asgore was surrounded by blue and skulls but he didn't know how they got to that point.  
 **"get to the barrier, get through, and reset. something weirder than normal is going on here."** He dropped the bones, eyes fixed on Asgore.  
 _Where is he? Where is he, WHERE IS HE?!  
_ "WHERE IS ASRIEL?!" ** _that's not my tone.  
what is-  
_** _DECEPTIVE HATEFUL LITTLE SHIT WHERE IS HE HIDING?!_ Suddenly, there's a rain of bullets and ash blowing across the flowers. A small voice same out from the patch. Sneaky flower, hiding in the camouflage.  
"How did you manage to… get into… the smiley trashbag? Doesn't matter. look, see, I-I-I took Asgore out of the way so you can…"  
"Come out before I tear the floor up, Asriel." They hissed. Sans desperately clawed against the influence, trying to gain some mental ground back and mentally begging Frisk to hurry up and reset.  
"Pl-please… Chara…" but he reluctantly stood up a little straighter and showed himself, fear on every ounce of his despicable face "I did good… I helped…you. See?"  
 ** _you'd better kill that little bastard, too  
_** _Finally, we can agree on something.  
_ Rage united them for a brief moment, though for two very different reasons.

 **"you've had this coming for a long time."** And before he could drive back into the ground, the eye flared to life, pouring blue and yellow tinged with Chara's red hue as bone and blaster ripped the flower and floor to pieces.

 ** _kid had better hurry up with that reset because you need the get the hell out of me._**  
 _Obviously. That was the plan all along, I wasn't winning by fighting you this time, smiley trashbag. I'm almost impressed. And now, come tomorrow, you wont have anything but educated guesses, I'll be back with Frisk, and we can play again some time._ Smugness seeped out of the internal voice. _But how's it feel to be filled with DETERMINATION~?_ He could feel feel the grin. He had made a terrible mistake. Not that it was gonna matter soon.


	3. Chapter 3 - a world of pasta-bilites

/Okay, so. I have no idea if Sans would think in font as, obviously, the game is not in his point of view. But he doesn't write in font so... *shrug*. I am going to keep bolding his thoughts as well as words (No comic sans font here hehe) like in the earlier chapters, as it is going to help keep things straight. also forgive the perspective shifts, hopefully that should settle down as the story goes on.

Stay awesome, anyone reading this \\\

* * *

Sans rolled out of the couch screaming and clutching at the area above his soul. It felt like it was tearing in two.

"SANS?!" Papyrus rushed in, trying to look his brother over as he curled in on himself, bony fingers tangling in cloth and rib like he could grab it and rip it out of his body, and then he felt his brother taking his hands and pulling them away from the area to stop him doing any damage to himself. "WHAT'S WRONG? SANS? DO YOU NEED HEALING?" He tried to focus away from the pain on his brother's voice. His frame rattled through every inch as he trembled and panted as the pain began to subside and fade away.  
 **"no, i-it's passing."** He takes a few moments trying to calm down his breathing under Papyrus' worried gaze. **"dunno what that was, but it's passing."  
** "ARE YOU SURE?"  
 **"yeah. thanks bro. i'll go up and take a shower and that should help. you start breakfast."** He wasn't feeling too hungry after that rude awakening but it would distract his brother for a while.  
"OKAY..." He seemed reluctant, but helped Sans to his feet then when he was satisfied that he wasn't going to collapse again immediately, he watched Sans go through to his shower and started preparing food as soon as he was out of sight.

Sans turned the water on, and sat under it, back against the wall once it was warm enough. He sighed, desperately trying to remember anything that would give him an inkling of what just happened. And like normal, it was just a haze. When he had cleaned himself down sufficiently, he grabbed clothes out of the drawer and pulled them on. As he went to push the drawer shut, the glint of silver caught his eye. Hmm. He had the strongest feeling he had something interesting waiting for him down there. But it would have to wait for now. He stretched himself out, and took a minute to see how he was feeling. The pain was completely gone. Thank God. He shoved his feet back in his slippers and made his way downstairs.  
 **"breakfast spaghetti? isn't there pastably anything else you could have made?"  
** "DON'T YOU DARE! IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS!"  
 **"and yet, you're smiling"  
** "AND I HATE IT!" Sans has to laugh, which makes Papyrus start to chuckle. "YOU MUST BE FEELING BETTER IF YOU CAN START MAKING TERRIBLE PUNS"  
 **"well, i can't put in all that practice al forno-thing."  
** "EEH... THAT WAS A STRETCH." but he's still smiling and that's what matters. Sans takes 'breakfast' from Papyrus.  
" **well, as my comic genius is going unappreciated down here, I am taking this up to my room."** He grins at Papyrus and walks past and up the stairs. Once in his room, he puts the pasta into the tornado in the corner of the room, and flops himself onto his matress, still trying to make sense of everything crazy that's happened, but without memories he is just chasing his tail bone. This is not helping. He quickly writes a note and puts it on his bedroom door that reads 'gone to run an errand, go start sentry duty – i'll catch up' and takes a shortcut down to his lab.

It looks like a bomb has hit the place. What happened here? He doesn't work messy like this. He starts picking up the scattered papers and starts organising them in the order that they should be, glancing over the older ones that he knew better just long enough to make sure they were in the right order, and scanning for anything new that might hold a clue. The last thing in this lot is still the hot dog stack picture that appeared last time. He sighs. The only time he didn't leave a hint was when he didn't get back to do it. With things slowly getting back in order, he notices that something new has been left. Well, some _things_. A sheet of paper, but whatever message he has left had been entirely redacted by being scratched out. Something went wrong? But what? Then he spots the pad written in an unfamiliar handwriting. **_looks like I've got some reading to do._**

They floated in the darkness that followed a reset for a few moments before they were wracked by agony. Their screams echoed out into the darkness as a pain tore through their being. _What's happening?_ Nothing like this had ever happened before, and they were scared. A light ripped through the darkness, and they realised that they were wrapped in something fluffy and warm. _Toriel_ _?_ They put their hand on their chest, feeling their heart beat rapidly.  
"Ah, child, do not panic. I heard you cry out. I am simply carrying you back to my home so I can heal you from your fall." Frisk closed their eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as they settle in. They also felt guilty for taking so much comfort from Toriel, considering what they had done, but were also not going to complain after the agony they just went through. "My name is Toriel. Just rest, child. I will see you safely through these old ruins."  
 _Ch-Chara?_ Frisk didn't really feel like stirring them up if they could help it but maybe they had an answer of what that pain was. No answer. Hmm, maybe because of being seperated during the reset, something happened? Maybe they were just tired from separating, or from trying to control a new body? Was the pain them reattaching? They resolved to just keep an eye on the situation for now. It didn't take long for Toriel to get them to the house and tuck them into bed.  
"Thank you."  
"It is not a problem." Toriel smiles at them gently, before letting a gentle green glow shine over their chest. "Does it still hurt, little one?" They shake their head. "Good, get some sleep. I shall make you a pie. For some reason, I feel like your preference is... Butterscotch, yes?" They nod. "Ah, what a good guess!" Toriel congratulated herself. "Well, I may put some cinamon in it too, just for extra flavour." They simply nod again, feeling exhausted now they were warm and comfortable. Toriel flipped off the light, worry gnawing at her stomach. Poor thing. She busied herself making a butterscotch-cinamon pie and settled down to read. Towards the end of the evening, the knock came echoing down the hall. Oh, she'd got so carried away that she forgot about this tonight. It would be nice to have a distraction, and her door-friend usually proves a very good one.

"who's there?" she settles herself with her back against the door.  
 **"a herd"  
** "A herd, who?"  
 **"a herd you were in so I came round."  
** She chuckles softly, but her worry for the child above took up half of her mind. "Well, that is appreciated." There's a pause, then he obviously picks up that she's having trouble with her own turn, due to her thinking.  
 **"i was going to tell you a joke about paper, but it was tearable."** she chuckles again, but obvioulsy he picks up on her distraction. **"hey, you know if you're not feeling up to it, we can call it early tonight."  
** "Oh, sorry. I am just... a little distracted tonight I fear." She pauses as she gathers her thoughts together. "I just... no, it's not fair to ask, really."

 ** _already? i was hoping to have a couple of days before the kid fell down to make sure i've got everything straight. that was some heavy reading..._ "what is it?"  
**"Oh, well... if a human comes through, can you... can you look after them? They hurt themselves when they fell, and if they want to leave... well, I did my best but... they still might not be on fighting form. I would like to think they have a friend on that side of the door as well."  
 ** _hurt? huh. maybe that means that things might be a bit calmer this time around. we'll see._** **"i can't promise anything, but i'll keep an eyesocket out."** He's sick of making promises that he might have to break.  
"That would be..." She sounds relieved. "That's more than I should even be asking for. Thank you."  
 _ **don't thank me just yet**. _He knocks on the door once again.  
"Who's there?"  
 **"udder"  
** "Udder who?"  
 **"this is udder madness, you know.** " She laughs harder than she has yet, which makes him sigh. It did nothing to lighten him up like normal.  
"I know. But, I will be like a bottle of wine... grapeful." That sets them both off laughing hard. Man, she could give as good as she got. They spent a good hour or so exchanging jokes of the same caliber, before they decided to call it a night. They both parted ways in higher spirits, and Sans decided that would have to be enough for now.


	4. Chapter 4 - in their own words

/Alternative title for this chapter: The chapter in which I discover that has no strikeout feature on their text editor. XDD\\\

* * *

 _*The letter has been written in a hurry, and the author has obviously changed their mind about what they are writing. some parts have been scratched out so hard they are almost entirely redacted but are still readable._

 _[This has been long overdue, and still I'm not sure what to write. It still doesn't all make sense to me, but I will do my best. I'm not sure all of what you actually know or remember, because you are very good at not telling anybody everything, but I also never really asked.]_

 _[Hey sans, I want to apologise]_

 _[I'm sorry]_

There's too many things I want to write here so I will stay to facts for you. _[By what you always tell us in the judgement hall, you know the science side of things which I don't even know myself. Flowey's also told me before that you caused him plenty of trouble too, so you've been going long enough that even if I did understand it and I wanted to, I couldn't tell you what you don't already know on that side of things.]_

My name is Frisk, I am the human who is falling into the underground. I came to the underground by accident [ _for not so good reasons_ ]. I didn't know that there was a place here, all I knew was that people who climbed Mt. Ebbot didn't come back, and that was okay.  
* _by the way the paper is dimpled, you can tell they paused for a bit here before deciding how to continue with their story, tapping the paper.  
_ I woke up on the golden flower bed under the opening, and was greeted by a yellow flower who spoke with me. He offered to show me how the underground worked, then nearly killed me. He would have if, Toriel hadn't saved me. She [ _led_ ] [ _lead_ ] led me through the ruins, showed me that although monsters might look scary they were pretty much harmless. So, long story short, I came through the underground. I made friends with and I learned from all of you. But I got scared of the future. I got scared of going back down the mountain by myself. The next thing I knew I was falling again.  
That was when I found out I could go back.  
This time I took my time and spent more time with everyone. It was strange, to go through with my friends without them knowing me, but I already knew what I had to do... mostly. I noticed some things were different. The biggest change was Asriel, and managing to turn him back from being a flower. After he broke the barrier for everyone, we moved on but I couldn't help but think about him. So I went back, but by the time I returned, the residual from the souls had faded and he was back to Flowey. I made my way back to where the barrier was and reset. I was falling again. I made my way through dozens of times trying to find a way to save him as well, but whatever I tried, I couldn't think of anything to keep him with a soul. So I reset again and again, trying everything. I asked Alphys a couple of times but she couldn't come up with anything concrete, and none of our attempts worked. I asked you as well but [ _I don't think_ ] nothing worked.

Through all of my travels, I had another person helping me. They told me things that I needed to know about monsters when I was making my way through so I would know how to avoid fighting them, or so I would know how much they could hurt me or how much I could hurt them. we spoke about things, too, somethimes. Their name was Chara. Asriel told me they weren't the best person. [ _I should have known_ ] I didn't know what they meant at the time by that, because although they were attached to me, I never knew what they were thinking and I don't think they knew what I was thinking... It was a bit like having a [ _ghost_ ] seperate person tied around your waist, but not.

Then one day, I got bored. I got curious. I wanted to see what would change if I took a different path to the end. I took my frustrations out on a froggit in the ruins, but felt awful so I threw away the toy knife I attacked him with and went back to trying to make friends with everyone. Things were... The same but not. Undyne wouldn't hang out with me in the same way. It was... strange. Then there was when you met me in the judgement hall, and somehow, you knew what I had done. You actually asked me if I did it just to see what you would say about it. I wondered what else would change. So I went back to the beginning, and tried again. Curiosity got the better of me again, and I knew I could fix it.  
Things changed one reset.  
Up that point I didn't have it in me to hurt any of my friends. I know that doesn't make it better and I'm not using that as an excuse. I never should have hurt anyone in the first place.

It changed because Toriel was blocking the door and I was doing my best to avoid her spells and not hurt her, but when she stopped attacking... I cut across her and she dusted. [ _she looked so betrayed_ ] But it wasn't me. Chara shrugged it off and told me that they were just doing it because I never had the guts to follow through, but there had been something about them that with every reset that had been... changing. I decided to not kill anyone else and reset, but it was too late. I got stuck in a cycle of Chara killing until I could gain enough ground to spare those I was fighting against, just trying to make it through so I could reset so I could set things right, and it just kept getting worse, never better. I had to save everyone somehow, but I had no idea how. More people died. Then I got through one without killing anyone, but it wasn't me that wanted to reset. It became hard. I would reset them, they would reset me.

I never found a way to save asriel.  
I need a way to save myself as well now.

It was never meant to end this way.

[ _Help me. Please_.]

I don't deserve your help by now, but I want to get us all up top. I know you've given up on that but if I can get us to the top again, I am not going to try and save Asriel again beyond what I already know I can do, I just want the cycle of death to break.

And once we're free, if you think I am going to hurt anyone, don't let me. Don't let THEM.

Please.

* * *

/Just a little one, it felt out of place outting frisk's message into the other chapters.\\\


	5. Chapter 5 - The adventure begins again?

/I start work again tomorrow so I will do what I can but it definietly won't be released at such a pace as these chapters. Thanks again for reading! Also, the things that aren't going to be too different from inside the game will be glossed over a little bit, but if that bothers people they just have to let me know and I will start putting it in :] \\\

* * *

Frisk awoke slowly to the sounds of Toriel busying around the house. They took a moment to breathe. The pain had gone completely and they were fine. They sat up in bed and stretched, before getting out of bed and picking up the plate of pie. Instead of saving it, they decided to eat it, stomach growling ferociously at the smell. They wandered through to the lounge where Toriel was stoking the fire in the hearth.  
"Ahh... how are you this morning, my child?" they gave a thumbs up. "That's good."  
"Thank you for the help." They paused, then steeled their resolve. "I would like to go home though."  
Toriel froze. "Are you sure you can't stay? I know we haven't got much, but I feel like we could be happy here."  
"Please. I have something I need to… put right. I did something really, really bad." They see her hesitate, but can't bring themselves to make eye contact. They feel their voice quaver. "I would love to stay, but… it's not something that can wait."  
"O-oh… well that sounds... serious. Wait here for a moment." Toriel disappears into the kitchen and comes back with a parcel of cloth that Frisk puts into their inventory. "That is the rest of the pie. I won't stop you, child, as it sounds very serious." She sighs sadly, then offers her hand to Frisk. It felt weird, Toriel taking them to the door and not giving them any resistance. Actually, they expected to have to talk with her more. She bends and gives them a long hug, and Frisk doesn't hear or feel anything from Chara. Do they dare think that this might turn out alright? Not yet, they still gotta face… their stomach sinks. _How am I supposed to face Sans?_ Toriel broke the hug and opened the door for them.  
"Do not worry, my child. I am sure that you can work everything out as long as you keep kindness in your heart." They nod. "But beware of the king. He will not hesitate to try and steal your soul. Unfortunately I must stay here to tend to the flowers but… oh! Take this!" Frisk takes the phone, gives her another hug and waves to her as she walks out of the ruin. "Do not hesitate to call me if you need to."

The chilly air fills them with determination. And a whole lot of trepidation.

He stuffs his hands in his pockets and snaps the twig as Frisk walks down the path towards Snowdin. He had stared long and hard, and a little wash of relief went through his bones as he saw the soul was free of experience and LOVE. Still, he gets the feeling this is going to be far from easy. He catches up as they get to the bridge, but before he has the chance to say a word, they've turned with hand outstretched but shaking. He clasps it, whoopie cushion in mitt, the minute it goes off they chuckle and their shoulders raise like a huge weight had just been lifted off of them. He chuckles, knowing they are taking it for the peace offering it is.  
" **well, kid, let's just get this over with and head to Grillbz' place, shall we?"** They nod, and start heading towards the lamp. Frisk takes their place. Papyrus comes along right on cue, and for the first time in a while, the antics actually makes Frisk laugh although they've heard it many many times before. Going through the motions had started to get boring and humourless but it was really starting to feel like things _might_ turn out alright, and it made it easier to enjoy the tomfoolery.

It wasn't long before they ended up at Grillby's, ordering fries and passing the ketchup bottle to Sans. "is it… going to be ok to talk here?"  
" **we aren't going to get into anything to heavy yet, so this is fine.** " He shrugs. Frisk just waits quietly, picking at the food. " **so your name is frisk, and the other one is chara?** " They nodded. " **and by the state of your soul, they are behaving themselves so far?** "  
"Well… I've not heard anything from them yet which is strange. But so far."  
" **sounds like a blessing to me.** " He puts the bottle down and looks right at them. " **i think you should wait a couple of days, stay with me and papyrus where i can keep an eye socket on you without having to track all over the underground. too lazy for that.** " Frisk is surprised by the offer, but knows better than to think it is out of the kindness of his heart. But still it would be weird if they were to stay in the house.  
"I could stay at the-" they stop as they see the look they're getting. _This... could be a tough couple of days_. "Sounds great."  
 **"good. we'll get round you meeting undyne so she doesn't destroy the house when papyrus inevitably tells her he's having a sleepover with the human before she has the chance to find out you're here."** A nod. Well, at least they were being helpful. " **I gotta head back to work, I'm on break in an hour and i don't wanna be late. see ya later kiddo."** he walks out the door and by the time Frisk gets to the door, he's gone.

 _~...What had hurt so much? It's hard to tell what's going on right now. Maybe I didn't make such a good plan in the heat of the moment. Whatever. I'll just rest for a little while more, let Frisk have this time to think she's got any chance. They're around my fingers anyway, watching Frisk's hope get crushed will be more fun anyway …_

 _tired…~_

Sans kicked his feet up on the counter of his sentry station, balancing on the back legs of the chair. Papyrus wasn't hanging round at the minute, which was good. He was probably bugging Undyne, which was more than fine by Sans. As much as he liked being nagged for being lazy, it meant he had some thinking time - that and Undyne was good at keeping him amused. The kid walked past, pausing to wave with a small smile. He raised a hand back and watched them go past. Seeing them like this, it was hard to imagine them wandering around dusty... he shook his head. It had happened. More than once. He wasn't gonna get complacent on this one. Give it a few minutes and he would head to the telescope - he had to start selling some hotdogs soon as well, Papyrus had somehow managed to run up 300g in snowball taxes this month. He opened a shortcut behind himself and let the chair tip him backwards into it, appearing smoothly on his feet next to his telescope station. He looked at it, and grinned to himself, before colouring the end with a red marker. He put his foot against the wall, crossed his arms and lowered his head to snooze while he waited for customers or the kid.

"Hey, hey! Mister Sans! Can I use the telescope?!" The little voice cut through his doze all too soon for his liking. Monster kid, huh? He chuckles, he likes this little guy a lot - he reminds him of Pap at that age.  
" **sure**. **do you need a… hand?"** the kid bursts out laughing. " **let me get that for you, bud."** He kneels and adjusts the telescope and MK sticks his head against it with so much enthusiasm that Sans is half expecting it to jam out the back of his head.  
"Huh? All I can see is- noooooooooo! Mum's gonna have to scrub my face again Sans!" The kid whines. Sans laughs as he pulls away with a little red ring around his eye."She still hasn't forgiven you for the puddle incident." But the kid is grinning away.  
" **that so? well, was this better or worse than that?"  
** "Definitely better. Okay I gotta go see if I can find Undyne, she's so cool! And she might come beat you up for this prank. Nah, just kidding, I'll tell her not to. She's too cool to beat you up unless you deserve it. Or if you're a human. Bye Sans!" And the kid is running off already. He falls on his face halfway to the corner, but picks himself up and carries on running, which makes Sans chuckle and shake his head. _**wish I had that much energy. cute kid though.**_

It's not long before the human is wandering through, and they are not surprised to see him already here.  
"Have you done the thing?" They ask, pointing at the telescope. He just shrugs.  
" **as I know ya, it'll be free to find out. discounted from 50000g, of course. How'zabout it?"** They eye it suspiciously, then bend down and use it anyway. They stand up and eye him, unimpressed and unsurprised. He offers just another shrug and a grin. " **full refund?** "  
"Can't help yourself, can you?" But they sound amused.  
" **what can I say?** **it tickles my funny bone**." They laugh, then look down the hallway. He knew what they were getting at, and waves them off. He settles back against the wall, then decides to follow at a distance with a heavy sigh. If it was gonna be any fight that there would be trouble… Undyne was most likely. She's just way too feisty, really, and that worries him today. He follows until they get to the area before the cave that leads to his sentry station, then takes a shortcut to get there before Undyne and the kid. He's just blown a whole lot of magic following them around, and he's feeling it the minute. Today has been too much like hard work for his liking, he's barely even had time for Pap to yell at him today. Ah, well, Undyne has the same issue everything she comes through to Hotlands in her armour - she's gonna smell like steamed fish for weeks. _**he**_ _ **he.**_ Should be safe to have a nap for now. Not like he has much choice anyway, expending so much energy so fast… he's feeling bone tired. He's chalking it up to being woken earlier than normal by whatever it was that happened this morning. He perches his head on his mitted hands and closes his eyes, he's out in less than a minute. He wakes after what feels like a brief doze, he was sure he'd heard metal clanking. Where are they? Did he miss them? He stands and takes a few steps out from the sentry station, and breathes a sigh of relief as he sees Frisk taking Undyne a cup of water. _**ok, good work sans, no one's died yet and the couch is calling my name. One last shortcut for now and then I can nap in peace for a while. hotdogs are gonna have to wait. rent hasn't been a worry for a long time, but the tax might have to be put on the back burner.  
**_ The couch welcomed him with it's soft cushions, and he finally lets himself sleep at more than just a doze.

Frisk hangs out with Undyne, and no matter how many times they do this, they always seem to burn down the house. Oh well, at least she's never too angry about it. This time, instead of just carrying on through, Frisk grabs the river person's boat back with Papyrus and Undyne. They are unusually quiet- they are very boisterous when they are together - and looking at the back of the hooded robe expectantly.  
"Tra la la la, something missing but is it missed?" They sang.  
"So weird!" Undyne and Papyrus said together, before picking up the conversation where it had left off.  
"SO ARE YOU COMING TO TRAIN WITH US AS WELL HUMAN?"  
"No WAY are you getting out of training! You skipped cooking lessons and my HOUSE BURNED DOWN! WE MIGHT DESTROY YOUR HOUSE! ACTUALLY YEAH, LETS DO THAT!" Frisk smiles as Undyne gets herself worked up into excitement.  
"NO TRAINING IN THE HOUSE. IT TOOK ME WEEKS TO CLEAN UP LAST TIME." Papyrus narrows his eye sockets. "ALTHOUGH, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER IF WE HAD SOME HELP." Undyne laughs.  
"Yeah, how does your brother manage to get by on the bare minimum at, like, a thousand jobs and not ever get fired?"  
"THAT IS ONE OF LIFE'S GREATEST MYSTERIES, NYEH HEH HEH HEH." All of them have to laugh at this one, and the boat pulls up. They all start climbing out and heading down towards the house. "I WOULD THINK HE BRIBES THEM TO SLEEP ALL DAY, BUT HE MAKES THE RENT EVERY MONTH SO I DOUBT THAT OTHERWISE WE WOULD BE HOMELESS. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THEY KNOW HE IS MY BROTHER, AND THEY KNOW I AM MAGNIFICIENT! NYEH HEH HEH!"  
Undyne and Frisk share a look. "Pretty sure that's not it, nerd." Undyne teases.  
"NO RIBBING!" and they crack up again at the unintended pun. "FORGET I SAID THAT, MY BROTHER IS RUBBING OFF ON ME."  
"Well," Undyne waves it off looking amused. "I'm going to go get an inn room then we are gonna hang out and DESTROY SOME STUFF!" And with that, she runs off excitedly. Frisk has to suddenly question if they is going to survive the next few days staying here, and not because of Sans.


	6. Chapter 6 - unwanted house guests

/In which things finally start to happen! Finally we're cutting this story to the bone. sorry not sorry X3 \\\

* * *

~ _Rousing again. Pain's gone, thank god. They feel… strange. Two strange tethers are tied around their wrists and ankles, but the more they struggle away, the more they tighten. They don't understand what's going on. They fight and they fight, and it pulls them down into a sea of white. Then, they notice it. Red scarf and pale grey dust. A streak of yellow digs through their being, pulling at their being painfully. Melted black and blue-green. Another pull, blue streaks of pain. Then orange light. And more agony, blue and yellow streaking through them. It pissed them off.~_

 _Rage and pain jolted them awake, and they weren't met with the cavern and bed of golden flowers they were expecting. A… house? They look around. They see Frisk. They call out, and are ignored although they look to Sans and move are probably just sulking. fine, They can be that way…. They would come crawling back. They always did._

Sans jolted awake from horrifying dreams of dust and colours, dreams more vivid than normal. Next to him trying to was the human, and a moment of panic flared. It was only Frisk's quick reflexes that saved them from being skewered on bone.  
"Sans, are you okay?" They asked. He took a minute before responding, looking them over. No exp, no lv, just his panic. Oops.  
" **crap, i made holes in the floor, i'm never going to hear the end of it. what were you doing?** " They stare at him for avoiding the question.  
"Trying to wake you. You called, and were… not sleeping well."  
" **probably just where i've been bone tired."** They narrow their eyes at him. " **not even a smile? c'mon, that was humerus."** Eyes narrowing further, but they don't push it. " **you done hanging out with undyne?"  
** "She's just booking a room."  
" **where? why?"  
** "The inn. We might of… set fire to her house a tiny bit?" He turns his head to look at them, left eye socket raised like a human would raise their eyebrow. "She helped!" Frisk scrambled for a defence, and realized that probably wasn't the best one they could have scrambled for. Then, to their surprise, Sans laughs to the point where they thought he might break a rib. Frisk can't help but join in.  
" **she did it again? i swear, fire lives in her house more than she does. at least we might get something to eat other than spaghetti. she's hot stuff when when it comes to cooking."** Frisk shakes their head. " **she should open a shop."  
** "Already know where you're going with this"  
" **the underground needs more fire sales."** And a facepalm. Yep, his job here is done. He hopes they are distracted enough they don't follow, he needs a bit. " **gotta go, my 'dogs aren't going to setter themselves."  
** The call of "that last one was a stretch!" follows him out of the door as he turns the corner and takes a shortcut out to the hotlands.

Chara watched him leave, and turned ready to speak to Frisk now the clown was gone. And then from the threads wrapped around them, they felt a tugging. The world suddenly fell away, and next thing they knew, Chara was in hotlands. What the-

With _him_.

 _WHAT DID YOU DO_?! Chara screamed at him, and he startled so hard he nearly dropped the hotdog he was passing over to the customer.  
" **not made they way you like it?"  
** "I didn't… it looks fine, thanks Sans." The customer walks away looking bewildered while Chara is so angry they can't even form words at the moment.  
" **huh…** **that was weird**."  
 _What did you do, clown?! Why am I with you? Where's Frisk?!_ Sans startled again, looking about. _And if you're hearing me, then only you can hear me in your head, you_ _asshole.  
_ " **if that's the case, what's the triple-secret codeword?"  
** _It. Doesn't. Work. That. Way._ They seethed through clenched teeth. _And even though I know it from being with Frisk, I. Refuse. To. Say. It._ If he had blood, it would have just drained out of his skull.

" **you."** Now that he was angry, Chara felt themself being dragged in towards him. They tried to pull themselves away as much as possible, wanting no part in this what-so-ever. " **why can I hear you?"** Sans is growling under his breath, looking about. He is gonna need somewhere more private as soon as possible. So much for having a minute.  
 _I don't know! And if I was going to timeshare, it would be with literally anyone else_.  
" **rude."** Chara watched him push his chair back and all of a sudden, the sensation of falling and being dragged happens all at once, sending their vision and head through a loop.  
 _Don't do whatever- What did you do anyway?_ Chara looks around. Back at the house? In possibly the filthiest room they've ever seen. Sans is plugging his phone in, then switching it on as he replies " **i took a shortcut. can you stop screeching? it's going right through my skull."  
** _I am not screeching! Also, No! Also also that pun was awful!_ They don't get a reply from him this time, except him rubbing a hand over his skull and ignore him in favour of making a phone call.

" **yeah, kiddo. i'm up in my room. before you come up, go get undyne and get her to keep pap busy for as long as she can, away from the house. it's an emergency."** Then he hangs up. It's not long before Frisk is entering his room looking puzzled and worried. Sans was never urgent about anything. At the same time they go to speak, something about what Pap and Undyne were doing, he hears Chara burst into an angry tirade. He screws his eye sockets up as much as possible and holds a hand up as he massages the front of his skull, unable to distinguish much of what they are saying at all, the words coming so thick and fast, as well as how angry they are which is something he doesn't really care for. Especially not echoing around and the noise filling the whole of the inside of his skull which is normally a place for him _alone_. " **shut up. i can't hear myself think, and they can't hear you anyways."** he gestures at Frisk, and catches the look of bewilderment on their face. " **not you, bud. you, i need to talk. i think i know where your friend went."** He can watch it dawn on their face. He shrugs, trying to come across way more casual than he was feeling right now. He knew they weren't fooled either.

"...Well, that would explain why they were quiet. Can they hear me?"  
 _Did they ask that? Really? Did they grow stupid in the last few hours?  
_ " **it says yes"** The disgust in 'it' doesn't go unnoticed by anyone. He sighs to himself, not liking this at all.  
 _I have a name._ The growl makes him laugh smugly, and he waved away Frisk's look, vaguely indicating his skull. They nod, understanding. It's all too crowded for his tastes. " **why is this happening?"  
** "I don't know." _I don't know._ They both answered at the same time. His skull was going to hurt by the end of this.  
 _Tell Frisk it feels different._  
" **different how?"** _Ugh, does it matter?_ " **it says that it feels different."  
** "Hmm? How?"  
He flinches at the cry of exasperation. " **that's what i asked. got nothing."** Frisk just sits quietly.  
Chara sighs, then takes a minute to decide how to answer. _I feel… tethered. Held down. It never felt that way with Frisk. That's how I know you did something!  
_ " **yup, i was just dying to have a genocidal maniac in my skull."** The white pupils in his eyes roll so hard that if they were actual eyeballs, Frisk probably would have heard it across the room. " **they feel tethered and that's why it feels different."  
** "Hmmm…" Frisk looks like they are thinking hard. "This has never happened before."  
" **so was anything different this time when you reset?"** Even as Chara denies it, Frisk nods.  
"They left before we finished fighting you. I thought they went to the back of wherever they control me from, to trick you into sparing me or something as they'd already failed themselves. But then you did spare me, and they didn't come back out… I don't know where they left to."  
" **i think we can assume the worst. so they can just possess anyone?"  
** _I do what I want!  
_ "Not normally by what I know of. It's the first time it's happened, that's for sure. Maybe it was because they weren't with me on the reset?"  
 **"so what do we do?"  
** _Get me out of you!_

" **apart from the obvious."** Sans shrugs in response to the unwanted house guest. Frisk also shrugs, really unsure of what to do.  
 _You know it's kinda creepy how calm you are about all this. I know how you feel about me, why aren't you freaking out about this more?  
_ " **takes too much effort to get wound up about things."  
** _That's not it, and we both know it._

Frisk lifts their head, but doesn't say anything, just listening to the side of the conversation they could hear. It was strange to see Sans distracted. He was good at distracting or manipulating a conversation (especially with his brother) on his side between puns and humour, and in more serious conversations the way it felt like he could just look right through your soul and pluck the thoughts out of your head. They'd seen enough and gone through the different speeches enough to know that he was good at not letting people around him see anything he didn't want them to and seeing exactly as much as he wanted to see, that it was just… yeah, strange is the word they are going to stick with. It wasn't really much different, they way he was acting, but to see how an outsider might have seen anyone of their conversations had anyone been watching gave Frisk a whole new perspective and appreciation for the skeleton, but unsure whether that was all in a good way.

" **don't see why you care anyway, but your concern is like friction. touching and rubbing me up the wrong way at the same time."  
** _I don't ca- DID YOU SERIOUSLY JUST MAKE A PUN?  
_ He moves his head like he is trying to move away from the source of the sound. " **heh, worth it."  
** _You are unbelievable. Just… un. believable._ Chara's back to seething and wishing they were in literally anyone else so they could pull him apart bone from bone.  
" **it's my natural magnetism."  
** _Wha- oh. my god. I hate you. I hate this and I hate you. I hate everything about this right now. Can you go and do whatever shortcut you do and take Frisk to the barrier and reset this whole nightmare. Or dust yourself so I can finally be put to rest_ There's more, but Sans cuts in.  
 **"can you be quiet while you skull-k? and this happened after so it's not guaranteed to work."** There's a wordless exhaling of angry sound that Sans didn't think there was actually a word or clever word mashup that could describe what he was hearing. Well, maybe there is an upside to all this. Not a big one, but enough that he can cope for now. His attention is pulled back to Frisk when he notice they are quietly chuckling from where they are sat. " **sorry, got distracted for a minute there, huh?"  
** "I don't know if antagonising them is the right thing to do, but glad you're enjoying yourself." Frisk needles him playfully but very meaningfully.  
" **silver linings, bud."  
** "So… I was thinking… if we can figure out what you changed last reset from what you normally do, we might find the key. Maybe."  
" **i got nothing, i already looked at my stuff."  
** "Stuff? Oh… yeah… Sorry I didn't pick anything up for you, but I… I had to be quick. I tried not to step on anything."  
 _ **huh. if he left it in that state and not the kid like he had started to suspect… he had been riled.**_ He waves the apology away as he thinks about that. " **taking a second look now I am with someone who actually remembers what happened might be a good idea."** Frisk nods **,** and he hears a sulky voice pipe up.  
 _I am not helping you with anything.  
_ " **didn't realise you liked my hilarious jokes that much. was that all it took for you to want to be metacar-pals. good for you i've got a ton more."  
** _No. Don't you dare.  
_ " **A skele-TON."**

 _...So what are we looking for?_ They hiss.

Frisk grabs the key from the drawer, and lets Sans lead the way down. They'd never actually been in here with him, it suddenly occurred to them. They hover near the door after being let in, not really wanting to touch anything until told to.  
"How does this room actually work?" they had been curious about this for quite a long while.  
" **well. it's got four walls, a ceiling and a floor and a door."** He shrugs as he opens the first drawer.  
"R _i_ ght." the answer was about what they expected, to be honest. He puts a familiar looking card back in the drawer before pushing it closed. They decided not to question it further, they'd get nothing from prying anyway. He puts the stack on the counter and they move over to look over his shoulder. They didn't get the chance to look at anything properly when they were last in here and they hadn't understood much of anything else when they were in here. He flips over some really detailed looking pages, and they notice how the detail starts getting sparser out over the pages as he gets further down the stack. They put a hand out hesitantly, but when Frisk's not stopped from picking anything up they take that as a sign that it's okay to start reading. It doesn't take long for their head to start to start swimming looking at the pages, the first few in a mix of normal text and in the same symbols on the blueprints.  
" **you might want to skip over the quantum physics bits, they can be a real pain in the skull if you don't know what you are looking at."  
** They start putting papers over to one side until they start seeing words that make sense. "I have no problem leaving those ones to you." They start looking over these in more detail, and realise they are looking at timelines they knew nothing about. This must be from when Flowey was playing about with the timelines. They tune out the sound of Sans' one-sided conversation with Chara, because the more those two were antagonising each other, the less they were going to find out. This was going to be some heavy reading.  
" **how long have we got?"  
** It takes them a moment to realise the question was for them. They look up from the pages. "Oh, uhh… I told Papyrus that Undyne wanted a snowball fight and it took about three seconds for them to have disappeared into the forest throwing snow at each other after he hit her with the first one."  
" **so we've got a while."** Sans chuckles. " **let's take this upstairs. i'm feeling bone tired."**

Frisk nods, and puts away the science-y stuff into the drawer. They look at the notes from Flowey's era, and put them back in the drawer. They were curious, sure, but they also didn't want to push it while things were open to them. They quietly picked up the pages that were left and followed Sans out and into the house. They both set up on the sofa, and the table is settling in front of them with the same soft glow of blue around it that surrounds Sans' hand and left pupil for a moment.

It takes all of half an hour before Chara starts needling him to get under his skin while they are looking over his notes. He brushes it off vocally as much as possible, but mentally it is really starting to frustrate him. Twice as much so because he's starting to really regret his apathy when it came to taking continued notes because of this new development. Then he notices that Frisk hasn't picked up or put down anything in a little bit and as he turns to question it, he notices that they are looking at the picture that was from the first time they actually went up to the surface.  
 _Pssh, getting all sentimental. Really?  
_ " **how about you shut it and help?"** He could feel himself getting really riled by now.  
 _I wasn't the one that started all this off. I was just the one with the determination to actually finish it.  
_ "Hmm? Oh." They put it to one side when they notice him looking over their shoulder and start picking through the notes half-heartedly _._ "Sorry, didn't realise I stopped." He nudges Frisk with an elbow.  
 _If we start getting all touchy-feely, I'm going to puke. Just so you know.  
_ " **i thought i told you to shut it? and look, kiddo, what's done is done. you've got a chance to fix it, which is more than most people get. but this time..."** He taps the picture with a bony finger. " **leave us up there. that's the best apology you can make to everyone."  
** _After you solve the 'us' problem. And I wouldn't take their word on it anyway, they've already shown that they can't be trusted. You'll be stuck here forever and you know it. It's not the first time they would've promised not to reset. Not even the hundredth. And yet all you can do is keep making them make empty promises because you're a lazy sack of shit who can't change anything. That's why I leave you for last - it takes genocide and an unending cavern of dust for you to get off your bony ass and do something._ The table flips, propelled high enough from the errant blast of magic that it hits the ceiling with a loud crack. Papers, sprinkles and a rock scatter through the lounge. He gets a smug: _Temper temper. Not like you to lose your cool now, is it? I'm proud of you.  
_ " **sorry, kiddo. i'm gonna take a walk, and try and clear my head. or, you know, as close as it's gonna get."** He doesn't even bother replying Chara.

His feet carry him through Snowdin, and he makes a concentrated effort to drown out the sound of Chara's needling by reciting a litany of puns through his head. He keeps close to the edges of the forest, not wanting to be stopped by anyone right now. He thinks he can hear the distant sounds of Pap and Undyne at one point, which makes him huff a small laugh to himself and letting the distant sound of his brother enjoying himself lift his spirit a little bit.  
 _Huh.  
_ " **i would suggest that whatever piece of shit is about to come out of your mouth stays where you can chew on it. not in the mood."** And there goes his mood goes back down again.  
 _Not even a pun? I'm almost disappointed in you, comedian. What happened, you break your funny bone?_ He doesn't answer, just shoving his hands further in his pockets. ' _Cause I've got one. And I just find it the world's most hilarious joke that you can love someone that much, and not lift a finger before I turn them to dust._

He drops like a sack as he grasps at his head as if he was trying to dig them out with his fingertips. Chara feels themself tugged towards him like the last time he lost his cool, but such a sudden dropping of the guard catches them by surprise, and they sink.


	7. Chapter 7 - Fallout

Chara looks from side to side, feeling weird. They notice a perspective shift. _Comedian?  
_ No answer. Nice, maybe they'll get some peace for a bit. Now if only they were up and moving- Sans' form stands as the form thought in their head. Realisation creeped in.

 _ **wait, what-  
** Oh, talking to me now are you? _They were positively giddy. _Looks like you're in time out~  
_ They took off almost at a run, towards the sound of the brother and the walking sushi roll.  
 _ **where are you going? you'd better not be-  
** I told you earlier, didn't I? I. Do. What. I. Want.  
_They found Papyrus and Undyne easily. Snow was flying thick and fast, and they were laughing and tossing insults at each other. _**don't you dare.  
**_ "I WANNA PLAY TOO~!" They cried with a rush of excitement and malicious glee in his voice, making the pair look up. _What're you gonna do now funny man, huh?!_ Magic flared down their fingers and threw bones up from the floor, giving Papyrus and Undyne minimal time to react, taking out half the floor and snowfall and leaving it marred by pockmarks and gouges like wounds in the snow.  
"WOWIE! AT LEAST GIVE US SOME WARNING BEFORE YOU START WITH YOUR JAPES!"  
Undyne, however, looked ecstatic."Hell yeah! This was getting boring with snow being NON-LETHAL! PAPYRUS, FIRST ONE TO TAG HIM WINS!"  
"I-I DON'T THINK- NON LETHAL ATTACKS ONLY UNDYNE. HIS HP-"  
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine." But Undyne grins in excitement still.

Chara uses their natural reflexes as well as the surprisingly swift body of the skeleton to dodge and weave around the returning magic and spears. _Who can I kill first? Bonehead or fish face?  
_ Magic was released again, on both sides. Undyne came rather close with a spear. _Or you on accident?  
_ Another round, this time clipping Undyne with some bones from behind. They are gleeful when they see her step falter as soon as his very special brand of magic makes first contact, and she gets hit by a small barrage. _Or, you know. Who can you kill first? Fish face has my bets now, which is kind of surprising.  
_ "SANS! I AM GLAD YOU SEEM TO BE HAVING FUN, BUT YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL! AND THE SCARY FACE IS UNNECESSARY."  
Another dodge, weaving around spear and bone with ease. _Mind you, your brother never really puts up a fight, he just stands there looking pathetic while I kill him normally._ They throw two rows of bones towards them and wrap Undyne in blue magic. They laugh as they see her doing her best to jump around them with the magic dragging her down while Papyrus does his best to keep an eye on her and avoid his 'brother's' attacks. _Also, I wanna know how -_ they jump his body back again, smoothly dodging a large row of spears. Papyrus's attack is not even worth mentioning, he looks like he is quickly starting to doubt this 'training' session _-you move so easily. Maybe all that sleeping is good for something after all.  
_ "UNDYNE'S LOOKING BAD. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, THINK WE SHOULD STOP NOW, BROTHER. BEFORE… BEFORE YOU TIRE YOURSELF OUT! YES, THAT'S WHY... NYEH HEH HEH…" the laugh that Papyrus gives sounds uncertain and forced. Chara reached down into a sea of 'borrowed' magic, but as they tried to pull up tricks from the deeper and larger reserves they were suddenly hit with a resistance that felt like trying to drag a Mach truck with no tires across asphalt.

 _ **that's. enough.  
**_

Blue and yellow pain, and then they are jerked upwards like a marionette on strings.

Sans pushes against their consciousness with everything he has, and suddenly he's jerked back in control. He drops the magic immediately, and puts his hands in his pockets, bringing about his usual casual air -although he couldn't feel further from it- and shrugging. " **you two just got dunked on, he he."  
** "SANS!"  
" **welp, that was fun. i'm gonna head back to my sentry station. i'm due a break from my shift in waterfall."  
** "YOU JUST- WAIT, WHY ARE YOU HERE WITH US IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY TAKING YOUR BREAK, YOU LAZYBONES!"  
" **i was taking a break from taking a break. you need a hand undyne?"  
** "Nah, it's good. Man, it's been a while since we sparred. I _forgot_ how you can throw those things around." He shrugs, as her eyes narrow at him suspiciously. He'd always held back a bit or subtly diverted last second so as not to got her. The less people that knew about his weird magic, the better in his opinion.  
 _ **great**_. He takes a moment and actually tried to make inner vocal contact like he had when he was trapped. _**hope you've calmed yourself down now, because you are going to regret everything you just did as soon as I figure out how to get my hands on you.**_

No answer. He doesn't care. He turns and walks away, not knowing what to say back to Undyne.

Chara was even quiet about the shortcut he took back to the lounge, which he certainly wasn't going to mind. He'd had more than his fill of their 'fun' for today. Frisk looked up from where they were on the couch as he flipped onto it softly. They'd righted the table and put everything back on place, and it looked like they had looked through everything as they only had one piece of paper in front of where they were sat.  
" **that went worse than expected. we might not have as much time as we were hoping."** Frisk looks at Sans questioningly. " **they got under my skin a little bit."  
** "No. No pushing away with jokes about them." Sans turns to Frisk, surprised by the firm tone. "You are still looking rattled -and no that's not a pun- so something worse than 'worse than expected' happened. And when you're dealing with Chara… I know how bad that can get. You _can't_ underestimate them." They finished quietly.  
" **don't worry about it right now"** he's met by a piercing stare. " **it's under control, and undyne and pap are probably walking home right now, as we speak. chara's not speaking to me right now, probably sulking. so, what did you find?"  
** "Mmm" they don't look or sound impressed but they know that they won't get anything out of him now. And they know that if Papyrus gets home, there will be no more said about it whatsoever. "It's a message you left yourself. I'd forgotten about it until I found it just now."  
He connects the dots almost immediately. If they knew it was a message he'd left himself, that meant there was a message there to find. " **you did that. why?"  
** "I panicked. Sans… I think you might have done something stupid."  
" **i'm a bonehead, nothing new about that tibia honest."** He quickly breaks eye contact with Frisk at the stare he receives, corners of his grin dropping. If he wasn't already a skeleton, he would probably now be a ghost - that kid's looks could probably kill. They seem to wait for him to say something, both sitting in tense silence for a full minute and a half, and they give up waiting when it's clear he's not going to offer up anything else.  
"Tell that to the lab in the basement and your spiel about time-space anomalies." He has the good grace to shrink into himself as he shrugs. "I've spent enough time with you across every version of the timeline in one way or another that I know that's crap. I don't know as much about you as you would think I would by now, you're still confusing - very confusing - but I know you aren't stupid, and don't treat me like I am, either." It sounds weird coming from one so small but he supposed that just because they're resetting timelines doesn't reset their age; and about now they are looking way older than their years. He doesn't want to contemplate how long they might have actually been jumping about in time by now, how long the 'kid' might have been playing about. Let alone how long it has been since the damned flower started this whole mess of tangled time.

"Sans…" they sigh. "I'll get to it. Between what I saw of you fighting Chara, the fact they were able to wrap around your soul in the first place, and what they saw when they 'checked' you - don't ask yet - I think… I think we need to go speak to Alphys sooner rather than later."  
Alphys? Why would they need to- _**oh no.**_ He shrugs, face settling for innocent bewilderment when his actual feelings settled for somewhere nearer 'oh shit'. " **...oops?"** Frisk just gives a frustrated sigh as their hand met forehead with a smack.  
"I'm taking these back downstairs then I'll start towards Hotland, and get our initial meeting out of the way."  
" **do you want to take a shortcut?"** Frisk shakes their head, but doesn't say anything else, getting all the papers back in order and taking them and the key. Sans sets the table back in it's right place without moving from the couch, eyed hooded as he thinks over the revelations from today.

Screw it, he's going to Grillby's for a drink already. Kid's gonna be busy for a while anyway.

Chara found themselves rousing to a sea of blackness. "I am starting to _really_ hate new things." Their words echoed around the black space, but seemed to simultaneously disappear like they were speaking into a vacuum. Chara was not impressed. They righted themselves to a more upright position, before wondering what to do with themselves. _They're here._ Chara tasted blue and yellow on their tongue as the words spoke, their wrists and ankles tingled. They rubbed at the area, then noticed the wispy energy that wound round them, blue and yellow too. The flashes of colour dug under their skin and they could trace them faintly down the forearms to halfway between the wrist and the elbow. Chara didn't feel like looking down at the other source of tingling.  
 _They keep themselves here. They hurt themselves. But they don't know it.  
_ "Okay, I don't know what this is but I'm out. Nope." Chara tries to get some forward momentum, but it's like treacle. It didn't feel restraining, just slow. _They should pay._ Pain snaked through the colours, making Chara try to flinch away. _They need to pay they must pay they need they must not_ the words melded together into a cacophony of whispered noise and Chara felt like they were being ripped from the inside out.

They hated blue and yellow.

Sans had passed out on the bar some time around the third glass of whatever ketchup concotion Grillby had made for him. Grillby had let him sleep, concern fizzling bright in him. It wouldn't be long before Papyrus found him anyway. It never was. The bell on the door jingled right on cue and oh- it was the human that had been with them. They didn't seem surprised to find him here, and they gave Grillby a gesture that he took as an apology. He shrugged as he started wiping out glasses. Wouldn't be the first or last time. He watched as the human hesitated before giving him a poke on the ulna that was closest to them, then sigh and pull out their phone and call someone, before sitting down to wait next to him. Grillby reaches under the bar and pulls out a soda bottle and places it in front of them, waving away the coin that they offered. He'd put it on Sans' tab if it really mattered, but he had a feeling that one soda would not. They smiled thanks at him, then just waited quietly. It took all of about 5 minutes for the bar door to be taken nearly off its hinges, slamming against the wall behind it loudly.

"NEVER FEAR, HUMAN, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HERE TO GET HIM!" Frisk felt an overwhelming relief when they heard the shout. Nobody even batted an eye, Frisk had the feeling this might be fairly regular. Papyrus turned the barstool 180 degrees and stopped to scoop Sans onto his back, and Frisk couldn't help but grin as Sans seemed to shift to drape over his shoulders so he wouldn't slip. That. That was pretty adorable. When they got out of this mess, Frisk was going to have fun with that. Brother in place, Papyrus stood up.  
"SORRY GRILLBY. I WILL ASK HIM TO PAY HIS TAB WHEN HE WAKES." the eye sockets narrowed. "AGAIN."  
Grillby crackled and hissed gently, and the duck monster spoke up "Grillby says not to worry him about it just yet." Another gentle crackle. "He's just tired."  
"COME ON, LAZY BONES." Papyrus said softly, but Frisk could hear a note of worry. "I TOLD YOU YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE YOURSELF TIRED EARLIER. MAKE A NOTE, SMALL HUMAN: THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU DON'T LISTEN TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH" Frisk follows them out. Once they were in and Sans had been gently deposited on the couch, Frisk gestures to the kitchen. "THAT WOULD BE BEST, YES. LET HIM SLEEP."

Frisk nods and leads into the kitchen, then after a moment makes a decision, and asks "What did you mean in Grillby's?"  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DID I MEAN?"  
"That you told him he was going to make himself tired. I thought you were pl- training with Undyne?"  
"WELL, YES... AND YES. WHEN MY BROTHER USES HIS MAGICAL ENERGY, IT MAKES HIM TIRED. THE MORE HE USES THE MORE HE SLEEPS. WHICH ON TOP OF BEING LAZY AND SLACKING OFF MEANS SOMETIMES HE WILL GET NO WORK DONE AT ALL. AND AS FOR UNDYNE AND I, WE TOOK OUR TRAINING OUT TO NEAR THE GOLF COURSE, BUT SANS SHOWED UP AT SOME POINT. ABOUT … HMMM … I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG AFTER, ACTUALLY." Frisk nodded, encouraging Papyrus' story. "HE CAME AND TRAINED WITH US. HE SEEMED TO BE HAVING FUN, I HAVE NOT SEEN HIM APPLY HIMSELF TO, WELL, ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN A LONG, LONG TIME!" Still nodding, encouraging more to the story. But Papyrus was suddenly looking very thoughtful over something. Frisk had a feeling that this was what Sans had been avoiding telling them.  
"That's good then, right?"  
"YES! WELL. IT SHOULD BE GOOD, BUT-" he sighed "IT IS PROBABLY JUST ME OVERTHINKING THINGS. BUT HE IS VERY GOOD AT NOT TELLING PEOPLE THINGS WHICH MEANS I HAVE TO GUESS A LOT."

Frisk waited for a few minutes, staying silent and patient. And good ol' reliable Papyrus launched into the story for them.

Sans dreams were just a void of nothing, for a change, except for some distant whispers. He tried to make out some of what was being said, but gave up quickly. Then he felt a rush from his soul, magic he hadn't called for. Before he could react, it felt like someone had shoved a burning poker through his eye socket and magic channeled painfully through it. Panic rose, was Chara trying to access their magic again? But pain overwhelmed panic quickly and he doubled, both hands over the left socket. As he was ripped from sleep, he put every ounce of strength he could muster into not crying out. The pain quickly faded, although he could still feel the familiar channeling sensation running through him. There was a decided lack of destruction around him so he decided to let it be for a minute. He slumped back into the couch- wait, when did he get on the couch? Blanket? His brain's scrambling to catch up to events, when the low conversation from the kitchen catches his attention. well, what Pap likes to think is a low conversation.  
"-WAS MAKING HER TEA IN HER ROOM WHEN YOU CALLED ME TO COME FETCH HIM FROM GRILLBY'S BUT SHE WAS NOT BEING LIKE UNDYNE. SHE ONLY SAID ABOUT THREE WORDS AFTER SANS LEFT. I THINK I MIGHT HAVE TO ASK HIM TO APOLOGISE, WHICH CAN BE A PAIN SOMETIMES."  
He hears a pause, in which he decides to roll over and face the wall, cover himself back over and listen in case they looked into the lounge.  
"Is she ok?"  
"APART FROM THAT, SHE SEEMED TO BE? I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… AM SOMETIMES… HOW TO PUT THIS? NOT SO GREAT WITH KNOWING WHAT FEELINGS PEOPLE ARE FEELING. LIKE WHEN YOU WANTED TO DATE AND WAS OBVIOUSLY IN LOVE WITH ME, I DIDN'T REALISE UNTIL YOU ASKED ME TO DATE YOU. WHICH I UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS BECAUSE I AM VERY GREAT AFTER ALL." he hears the kid chuckling. "SANS' ATTACKS DON'T DO MUCH DAMAGE, NOT ENOUGH TO HURT HER LIKE SHE WAS ACTING, SO I THINK HE MAY HAVE HURT HER FEELINGS."  
"Maybe he had a bad day and got carried away?" He hears Frisk's voice offer, but he caught the tone which he knows would go well over Pap's sky high head. They were prying for information.  
"THAT'S WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND. HE SOUNDED LIKE HE WAS HAPPY AND EXCITED TO JOIN IN WITH US, SO I DON'T THINK SO. BUT THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT, IT DIDN'T SEEM TO BE LIKE WHEN HE USED TO BE HAPPY, IF THAT MAKES SENSE."  
Sans gets a sinking feeling in his chest. _Uh oh, sounds like you're busted~  
 **and i thought i had got rid of you.  
** I would be so lucky.  
_He quietly moves himself off of the couch, making up his mind to go speak to Undyne before Papyrus can. "I WILL TRY TO TALK WITH HIM ONCE HE IS AWAKE."

Sans makes sure he shuts the front door behind him so softly that it barely even clicks. He heads over to the inn, head down.  
 _ **i don't know what you thought you were playing at, but you've left a hell of a mess.  
** Seeing if I could light a fire under your bony ass. I would like to get back to Frisk some time this side of eternity.  
 **out of the kindness of your heart, i'm sure.  
** Hell no. I want out and you're taking too long and as I told you earlier - you always seem to need something to motivate you. And besides, we haven't got a heart between us.  
_… _ **was that a joke? i'm so proud of you.**_ He fires back smugly as the door chime rings gently as he pushes the inn door open.  
 _I will break your mind and murder everyone you love, then use their dust to clog up every cavity in your body.  
_ He decides not to push it any further after the eventful day that he'd just had, beyond mentally scoffing.

"Sans! Are you here to see Undyne?" The innkeeper greeted him as she came down the stairs.  
" **yeah, actually. 'sup?"  
** "Nothing. Like, literally. No windows are broken, there's no shouting…. I'm worried."  
" **pap said that she seemed a bit down. came to see if I couldn't lift her _sprats_ a bit."  
**"You be nice!' the innkeeper scolded him good-naturedly with a laugh.  
" **i don't know what you _cod_ be on about." **he shoots back with a grin. The innkeep shakes her head, still grinning.  
 _Kill me now._  
"Go on up, I'll stay down here and try to keep the area clear for a bit shall I?"  
" **appreciated. thanks. and i'll pay for any damage to the _plaice_ if she starts throwing spears at me." **Sans shoots her a thumbs up as he heads up the stairs. _**i should be so lucky.**_ He fires Chara's own words back at them.

-knock knock-  
Silence from inside. " **i'm taking that as a sign to enter."** Still nothing. He opens the door and steps in.  
 _And this is where we get dusted because you don't know how to respect boundaries.  
_ He ignores Chara completely, closes the door quietly and clicks the lock, then goes and sits by Undyne. She's sat on the bed with her hair down and staring at her knees. Pap's right, very un-Undyne.

And sits…

 _And this is why everyone dies. Speak for god's sake, we're getting old here.  
_ _ **shut up.**_ " **...have you seen a healer or should someone get alphys?"  
** "No."  
" **o...kaaaay…"** he's so the wrong person to be doing this. " **wanna yell at me until you're blue in the gills?"  
** She sighs, still not having looked at him. Which was okay because he knows he probably looks a mess considering in the awkward silence he became acutely aware that the left pupil was still alight with the magic channel he still wasn't sure how to stop (or why it was doing it in the first place). "No. Well, yeah. But not right now."

He also sighs. " **you won't feel better until you get your hp healed up, you know."** She goes to speak up, but he interrupts before she can start. " **i mean the feeling won't go away. the crawling. it's why i've never hit you with an attack before. you know, when you've dragged me into one of yours and pap's sessions."  
** "What did you _do_ to me, Sans? No, wait, _why_ did you do it?"  
" **i can only answer one of those questions, and it's not going to be the answer you want most. but... papyrus can't find out about what my magic does."  
** "...Why don't you tell him things, Sans?"  
" **because…"** he pauses, thinking about how honest he wants to be on this. " **because he's so… good. he's amazing. he's..."** _Everything you're not?_ But Chara didn't know how on the money they actually were with the snide remarks and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell them so he carries on ignoring the remark. " **he's the great papyrus, ya know?"** As he smiles fondly, he feels the last of the errant channeling calm and his pupils fading in to how they should be. " **probably too great. i just want him to stay like that."  
** Despite herself, Undyne has to grin. "You almost sound like you really love the little dweeb." He digs a gentle and playful elbow into her side. "And you aren't gonna spill unless I agree, are ya?"  
" **nope."  
** "Ugh, fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine."

He takes a moment to gather his thoughts. " **i don't know why it does it, to be honest. i put enough nights in at enough libraries that if there was an answer for that, i would have it by now. what I do know is the effect it has."  
** "I can tell you that right now, nerd. It makes you feel fuckin' awful! It's-"  
" ' **like every bad thing you have ever done is digging claws in your back and trying to drag you under water' is what you're about to say, right? or something like it."** Undyne huffs next to him. " **or, as i like to use the short version… karma's biting you in the ass."** He flashes a grin at her and she laughs a loud, short laugh. That's more like it. It doesn't escape his notice that a certain someone has had nothing smarmy or, well, anything at all since he's been talking. That's odd, he was pretty sure he was going to have to be talking to Undyne over the noise of venom in his head the whole way through the explanation. But on the other hand, he's also aware that Chara has now got very vital information on how his magic works, which is not great. Which means this is where honesty has to stop. Not that he had much more information than that anyway. " **and if it's any consolation, i actually am sorry i can't tell you why today happened."  
** "You just get weirder and weirder." She teases him, sounding a little more perky than she did.  
" **well, i gotta do something to keep life interesting."** He shrugs at her, false innocence on his face. The expression starts her laughing loudly again. Sensing that his job here is done, he stands and starts to leave. As he stops to flip the lock on the door, Undyne looks up at him.  
"If you make it that interesting again, punk, I'm gonna ground you into paste."  
" **only if you give the pieces to asgore. i've heard it's a great fertilizer."  
** "What?"  
 **"bone meal."** He ducks out of the way of the thrown pillow, chuckling as it hits the wall with a soft thud.  
"Get out of here I start throwing spears."  
 **"they'll match my _piercing_ wit" **and he quickly leaves the room, her laughter following behind her. He gives the innkeeper another thumbs up as he leaves before pulling on his mitts and trudging out in the snow. He walks around the back of the inn, opening a shortcut to his side of the purple door.

 _Bleugh, I told you to warn me before doing that.  
 **i'm taking a shortcut.  
** Ha ha. _They reply snippily, before lapsing back into quiet.


	8. Chapter 8 closed doors and dusty floors

/If you're still reading this... thanks very much :D .\\\

* * *

He sits with his back against the door of the ruins, letting the stone prop him up. _**spill.  
** What?  
 **don't get me wrong, i wouldn't mind it if you stayed like this all the time but you're too quiet and it's starting to make me think you're planning something again.  
** You've been loud enough for the two of us.  
 **and you're avoiding the question. strike two.  
** I don't answer to you.  
 **they say as they answer me.  
** You know, you've got one hell of a smart ass for a skeleton.  
 **i didn't know you'd noticed; it's my best feature.  
** Sure it is.  
 **it's also where i get my coccyness from.**_ He actually got a snort for that one. Huh.  
 _Shut it, clown.  
 **well, if you liked that one, you are in for a treat right now.**_

It's then that Chara noticed where they were. The story from the restaurant that Sans tells Frisk on the better timelines suddenly comes to mind. Toriel. They didn't know how to feel about this at all but Sans is already knocking on the door. Chara waits in tense anticipation.

"Who's there?" Her voice sounded… pleased? Excited?  
 **"boo."  
** "Boo who?"  
 **"if you're going to cry, i can always leave."** Toriel laughs like it's the best thing she's heard in years.  
"Don't you dare. I _a-door_ you."  
 **"i know, i'm** _ **adoor-able**_ **. But i always have the strangest feeling, almost like there's a** _ **wall**_ **between us. maybe I should be more** _ **open**_ **."** And again, Toriel is howling with laughter. Chara feels something in themselves stir at the sound. They also notice how Sans' soul is almost thrumming with happiness from the first moment.  
"Well, I'm sure we can get a _handle_ on the situation."  
" **i'm sure you** _ **wood**_ **, but I just keep _shutting_ things out."  
**Oh god, they just realised what was happening here. _Are you seriously using her as a pun-based therapy session?! I can't decide if that's hilarious or just pathetic.  
_ "Sometimes the _key_ thing to remember is that to get to the _grain_ you have to sand off the varnish."  
" **but what if it's not just an** _ **open and shut**_ **case?"  
** _Ok, I made up my mind. Definitely pathetic. Especially as most of these are wood puns and you are sat against a stone door._ But judging by the way he looks, the fact that his and Toriel's laughing hasn't faltered throughout the exchange, and the feeling coming from him right now, they're not getting through to him. Wait, no, they didn't really just think that did they? _Ah, Hell.  
_ "And sometimes a door is not a door. Sometimes it's _ajar._ "  
" **you** _ **crack**_ **me up, but I'm also starting to see the** _ **framework**_ **of your point."  
** _She always did give good advice._ Chara thought quietly. Something they hadn't felt since Frisk's LOVE had started warping them stirred in their spirit. They didn't like it _. Great. I've got the warm fuzzies, can we GO now?_

Nooope, Chara wasn't ruining this for him and Sans continued to ignore them. He does, however, switch it up as Tori's now given him some food for thought. " **only because it's** _ **blindingly**_ **obvious, though."  
** "It's nice to have someone to appreciate my _sharp_ wit after all."  
 **"careful, you could** _ **cut**_ **someone with that."** They both laugh again, but there's a pause afterwards. He awaits the ineveitable question.  
"...Have you seen the human?"  
" **yeah, they're staying with me and pap while they do their thing."** She gasps, sounding surprised.  
"Oh! I didn't mean for you to- but what about him wanting to be in the royal guard? Surely, if Asgore finds out, he won't have a chance and I would hate to think that it's-"  
He interrupts her, not liking the way her worried tone niggles into her voice. " **it was bound to happen. papyrus might think he really wants to capture a human, but he hasn't got a mean** _ **bone**_ **in his body. apparently it took all of five minutes to get the human to convince him they wanted to date him."** They both laugh hard at the idea. " **so it's fine, don't worry about it."** They move on to exchanging more knock knock jokes now they've both cleared their worries in some respects. He's there for an hour before he hears the distant call of his name from a familiar voice, and it doesn't escape his notice that someone has been unusually quiet either. " **oh, crap, pap's calling. gotta go."  
** "Okay. Oh! And good luck with your set that's coming up." Her voice was still light with laughter.  
" **i don't need luck, I'm naturally hilarious. In fact, my funny bone is the strongest one in my body - it could lift a skele- _ton_." **But the thanks is in his tone, and he stands, puts his hands in his pockets and walks towards Snowdin leaving the sound of her howling laughter echoing out behind him. He's intercepted by his brother, and Frisk who was walking behind him, at a near run due to the long strides that Papyrus was using.

"FINALLY! GOOD THINKING HUMAN. ALTHOUGH OF COURSE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TO LOOK HERE AS WELL!" Sans can't help laugh at the quieter "EVENTUALLY."

Sans shrugs an apology. " **sounded like you two were busy so i decided to come get some practice."  
** "WELL, I AM STARTING TO THINK I SHOULD GET YOU A BELL. WE DIDN'T HEAR YOU LEAVE."  
 **"no thanks. that doesn't sound very-** "  
"SANS, NO."  
" **- _appealing._ " **Sans, yes. He laughs.  
"NYEH! THIS IS NO TIME FOR YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS. THE HUMAN AND I WERE VERY WORRIED."  
" **i've _toll-ed_ you before you worry too much." **Papyrus' face drops from the fact he'd managed to set up this many puns. Sans starts leading the way back towards Snowdin, enjoying himself immensely right now, ignoring the eyes on the back of his skull from Frisk. **"i just got carried away having a good _chime_."  
**"OKAY, NO BELL. NOW PLEASE STOP THE BAD JOKES."  
" **but what if I want to _carillon_ , though?"  
** _Don't you have an off switch? Jesus. I've just had to sit through an hour and a half of this. If I could strangle you, I would.  
_ A half angry and half exasperated NYEH HEH HEH HEH is the only sound that Papyrus can make in response as he tries to not laugh. _**you're still there? damn. got my hopes up again.  
** Bite me.  
_" **we'll do food, then bed. you sound grumpy, pap."  
** "BECAUSE I HAVE JUST HAD TO COME AND FIND YOU. AGAIN. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME NOT WORKING I HAVE SPENT TODAY?"  
" **you were with undyne most of today."  
** "WELL, YES, BUT-"  
" **time spent with the boss is time spent working."  
** "I… AM NOT GOING TO WIN AGAINST WHATEVER BONE IDLE LOGIC YOU HAVE RATTLING AROUND IN THAT SKULL OF YOURS, AM I?"  
" **nope."** He turns to grin at Papyrus. **"i'd quit while you're a head, bro."**

"SAAAAAAAAANS!" Papyrus lunges, probably trying to rattle him for keeping on with the puns, and he manages to keep just out of reach, half running and half dodging all the way back. By the time they get home, he's panting and sweaty, but it was worth it. Also Pap seems to have stopped worrying, so that's good.

 _You seem better.  
 **yep. and not even you can rain on my parade, so i wouldn't bother trying.**_ He flops backward on the couch over the arm, sighing contentedly. The human sits by his head, which was in the middle of the couch due to the way he flopped so his feet could dangle in the air over the arm, and Papyrus heads straight for the kitchen. He hears the fridge open and close, and wonders with his eye sockets closed if the trash tornado can handle another plate of spaghetti in it. Maybe he should empty it soon. He feels the eyes boring into him. " **bud, you're gonna burn a hole in my skull soon. tomorrow, okay?"**

"...fine." He feels the gaze shift away and sans flips the TV on. The sounds of Mettaton doing his thing fills the lounge quietly.  
 _I'm starting to think you like having me around, this is taking so long.  
 **nope, i figure if i can't kick your ass you can sit and suffer through more of my amazing puns seeing as you hate them so much.  
** We've pretty much wasted today.  
 **and who's fault is that? wasn't me that decided to waste our time by taking us on a joy ride. wasn't me who decided to make a mess. so you are going to sit there, shut up, listen to pap's bedtime story, and wait for tomorrow like the rest of us.  
**...Tch, whatever. Not like I have a choice right now.  
_Sans could feel Chara sulk all the way through him getting Pap sorted for bed - Peek-a-boo bunny tonight after the shower - but paid them no more mind. He could feel them sulk all the way through getting the blankets sorted so Frisk could sleep on the couch, and still ignored them. Once he had showered and changed into his pajamas, then said his goodnights, he shut the door to his bedroom and paused for a minute. He decides to throw them a bone.

 _ **consider yourself warned: there's possibly going to be a lot of this tonight.**_

 _A lot of wha-_ Sans stepped through a shortcut, and let the slippers softly echo across the tile as he stepped from carpet to dusty tile. The area was pitch black until Sans used a little magic to put enough pressure on a switch. Lights and machinery hummed to life everywhere around them. If they had been in a body, Chara's pretty sure their eyes would have just fallen out of their socket. Not a lot was new to them by now, but they had never seen anything like this. Even the true lab had nothing on it.

 _WOAH. Where are we right now?  
 **the magical land of... nunya.  
** Oh, ha ha. Mature. _They watch as he walks over to a computer terminal, and starts deftly typing, information in strange symbols and graphs appearing over multiple screens. With a practised ease, he walks back and forth across the space, getting whatever things it was he wanted without having to look around the space too hard - even when he used magic to grab things because he was already doing something, it was obvious he'd spent a lot of time here. Rolls with diagrams and more charts, Chara's head started swimming the more they looked at it. And to make it worse, not a bit of it was labelled in a way they could understand. They wouldn't admit it out loud, but they were impressed.

 _Is this the timeline research?_ Chara questioned him, completely intrigued.

 _ **bits of it is.**_ Sans answers distractedly as he goes swiftly between screen and what looked like a blueprint. _**i need snacks.**_ Suddenly, they are pulled with him to the vending machine in the true lab, where he grabs a couple of bags of popato chips, then back to in front of the screens. Without looking away from whatever it was he was doing, the left hand lifts and traces a distracted circle, opening a small shortcut, then Chara can distantly hear a fridge open, a rustle of wrappers, then it closing again before he pulled his hand out and lets the magic dissipate. The two new bags were gone and he had an open one in his hand. It gets put next to the keyboard and he eats a chip slowly, deep in thought. It's about two hours later and three bags of chisps later that he suddenly freezes, then stares between one of the diagrams, and about three different screens all at once. _W_ _hat?_ He was so focused, white pupils rapidly moving between all the information. _Sans! What does any of this say?_ _Hey, dumbass!_ he didn't even appear to hear when Chara started insulting his jokes and throwing out their own terrible puns to try and attract attention to themselves. They were also quickly learning that they hated being ignored.  
 **"oh. OH. hold the fu- did i- hang on. hang on, i haven't got the right information here. at all. well, not all of it."** He's definitely talking to himself, and Chara just huffs impatiently still peeved about being ignored. **"and if you make me vomit, i'm not gonna be impressed."** Chara started to wonder what got him sounding almost giddy, but before the thought had time to even process - let alone the warning **-** they'd been through way too many 'shortcuts' to some places they recognised in the brief time they were there and some places they didn't, and Sans had a look of fervent excitement on his face as they finally arrived at a long work desk that was back in the starting... lab? His eye sparked blue and a wave of the hand spread things across the large space, folders flipped open without being touched, as he quickly found the information he was looking for, and a fresh roll of blue paper was rolled open. As he started scrawling and marking down things in yet more of the strange symbols, a gleam in his white pupils that was completely different to anything chara had seen on his face yet. _Okay, I can't keep up with you. That's my limit, I'm out._ They don't know if they were even heard, but they closed themself off to the world around themselves to shut out the strangeness going on around them to try and get whatever semblance of rest their spirit could get. It wasn't long after that, they were swallowed by blackness, whispers, and blue and yellow agony.

Sans was halfway through making notes on a possible breakthrough on his project, when he felt it. The pull of magic that he hadn't summoned then the feeling of it being forcibly channeled through the eye socket once again. _**no, no, not now. not NOW.**_ But it was too late, and moments later every thought he had and every idea was blasted out of his skull by that all consuming agony. He hit the floor in a ball, the sound of bone hitting hard tile echoing mockingly all around the room, but as no one was here he didn't put any energy into not crying out and succumbed to the primal urge. It was just getting worse, whatever this was. And worst of all, he was going to have to leave for tonight because if he was going to start leaking magic he couldn't afford to get stuck down here not four hours after he'd just been lectured about going missing. He mustered a little bit of soul energy to flip everything off before he used the last reserves of what wasn't leaking out of his body to get himself back to his room. He couldn't focus on the end point correctly, and landed with a crash across the treadmill, bouncing off of it painfully. He groaned, and tried to move before quickly giving up on that plan.

"SAN- OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OKAY?"

 **"yeah... just... tripped on my way back… from putting chips... back in the fridge…"** his brain grasped at the lie feebly. " **He he, teach me not to put the light on, huh?"** the pain through his soul was easing and he started to come around more, and he noticed that Papyrus has his eye sockets fixed on his ... left eye. Oh, shit. He quickly closed both eye sockets, and tried to stand. He felt Papyrus's hands help him up… then pick him up as his body slumped out on him. The pain was diminishing quickly, but that meant the strain on his magical reserves was also starting to wash him out and he could feel exhaustion crashing on the back of the passing agony.

"BROTHER... YOU HAVE GOT TO TELL ME THESE THINGS." he hears Paps say in quiet exasperation as he yawned and felt his bones turn to a sloppy mush. "WELL, MAYBE AFTER YOU GET A NAP."

His dreams were in the dark again, but this time with the quiet sound of sobbing. He tried to ignore it, but couldn't, and tried to make his way towards it. He hit air like hard stone in every direction. " _not yet_ " and " _they're not ready yet"_ whispered around him like echoes in the field of echo flowers. It sent a shiver up his spine, but the sounds dropped away finally. He slept dreamlessly and for the first time in a while he slept _well_.


	9. Chapter 9 - Blue and yellow

/ Thanks for sticking with me on this, not much longer to go now :D\\\

* * *

Chara jolted out of their agony, head whipping around. They never thought they would be glad to see the skeleton's house but right now it was amazing. They took a moment to let their head catch up to everything, then spotted Sans laid on a bare mattress, creased sheets laid over him and head on a bare pillow. Suddenly, with new insight, they suspected he didn't actually spend enough time in his room overnight to care too much about things like making the bed. Chara tried calling out to him a couple of times, but he wouldn't wake.  
 _Sorry clown, but I gotta speak to Frisk and you're not using it at the minute._ Ugh, why are they apologising for this? What's wrong with them?

They paused, puzzled. Normally, with Frisk, possession had been a second nature. They latched onto their determination and sort of… just… was running the show because they were determined that they were going to. Monsters don't have determination. And when they'd managed to slip in before, they'd both been pissed off and it had just… again, just happened. They stared for a moment, then did the only thing that came to mind. Chara knelt down next to his body and put a hand directly over his ribcage near where they guessed his soul would be. They almost pulled away when they felt a flare similar to the blue and yellow react to the spirit touching the area. Feeling utterly ridiculous, they keep the hand there and just say ... _please?  
_

It was more surprising when they were opening Sans' eyes for him. She gave a quick mental poke, but he still seemed really out of it. They could feel a twinge through the left pupil, but it wasn't all that bad. They weren't going to be in here long. They didn't know enough about his magic to do anything devastating with it anyway - not in the same way Sans could. Having felt his body flag after a few rounds with Undyne and Papyrus, they had a begrudging respect for him and how often he still managed to decimate them in the judgement hall that they would never, ever, ever tell him about.

Ever.

Chara picked up the phone that they'd watched Sans plug in earlier, and unplugged it, scrolling through the numbers. Huh, they hadn't actually seen Frisk- you know what? After what they'd seen, they weren't even going to question it.

 ***Frisk, u awake?**

There was no text back, but not a minute later they heard footsteps up the stairs and the door quietly opening. As they looked up Frisk stopped in the door, then hissed at them "Chara, stop it."  
"I'm not- I'm gonna give it back soon. I need to speak with you and he's sleeping."  
"Have you looked at his eye? It only does that when he's using magic. And if you haven't noticed, you actually need him awake tomorrow. Playing around with him is not going to help get you unstuck."  
"Then stop lecturing me and listen." They say, exasperated. Frisk doesn't reply, and they take that as their cue to continue. "Did you ever see an entryway to another lab anywhere?" A shake of the head. "Not even like the time we found that weird door in waterfall?" another shake. "I don't know what he's up to but we've just been somewhere and honestly, I had no idea it even existed. It's insane! Everything is written in those weird symbols, there's machinery everywhere… the True lab looks tiny in comparison."  
"And? Does it help us?"  
"I don't know! He wouldn't tell me anything, everything was in those weird symbols, and he completely zoned out while working... i found it hard to keep up with the way he was shortcutting everywhere and blowing magic at a rate I've only ever seen when he's kicking our ass."  
"Again, I say _and_? I believe you were the one that called him a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a puzzle and signed by a question mark. I don't see how this is so important you're using up yet more magic when we need him functioning tomorrow. When _you_ need him functioning; it's you that's stuck."  
Chara pouts. "...Okay, so I went off topic - you would have if you had seen this place. Anyway, Frisk, I'm getting these weird… flashes." Frisk waits patiently while they put it in order. "Sometimes, I go to a place. It's… dark and thick, whispers like a field of echo flowers, and there's… blue and yellow. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but they hurt. The colours really, really hurt.I don't know why, but they feel…. Important to what's happening."  
"Ever had anything like it when you were with me?"  
"No! That's probably why it feels important."  
"I'll mention it to Alphys if it makes you feel better."  
"Well, yeah. I wouldn't mention it if I didn't think I needed to, and I don't feel like listening to shitty puns about rainbows or something. I feel like it needs to be taken somewhat seriously."  
They got what she was aiming at. "...I won't mention it unless I need to."  
They pause, both looking at one another.  
"So... I'm going to… let him sleep. He used a ton of magic tonight, so don't let that idiot brother of his wake him early."  
Frisk's eyebrows furrowed in a way that puzzled Chara for some reason, but they do as they say and lay his body back down. They're jerked out of him uncomfortably. Frisk leaves quickly and goes back down to carry on sleeping, which they find uneasy with churning thoughts.

Sans wakes to quiet, which puzzles him. He rubs the grogginess from out of his eye sockets, and has to heave himself from the bed. A yawn and a stretch later, and he's making his way sleepily downstairs. Frisk is sat watching the TV on a low volume. **"mornin' kiddo."** they look up and give him a small wave, concern on their face. **"'m okay."** He can't bothered to take the stairs and he just lazily ports down to the couch, landing with a soft thump. He can feel the eyes on him without looking. **"don't look at me like that. the stairs were too far away."  
** _Don't blow your load before we manage to get anything done.  
 **bite me.**_ He retorts, using their own phrase.  
"Should you be wasting your magic like that?"  
 **"not you too."** He groans, reaching for his hood to pull over his face and realises he didn't even get dressed yet.  
 _You've slept most of the day already, we need to go to the lizard. **  
the wonderful lizard of oz?  
** Grrrrrrr... _And breathe. Two breaths. _Though, I don't know what you're expecting_ _from her that you probably couldn't find out yourself.  
 **soul's not my area. i'm more of a jazz man.**  
Ha. you going to take ANY of this seriously?  
_"Are you sure you're up to this today?" Frisk's voice cuts into the internal 'discussion'.  
" **yep. unless you offer me breakfast spaghetti, then we might have a problem."** He pauses, then looks around. " **speaking of which-"  
** "He's fine. He went to go to see undyne and start his sentry duties after I finally convinced him you weren't going to die in your sleep or something." Sans gives a lazy laugh. "Aren't you-" Sans holds up a hand.  
" **nope."  
** "But he d-"  
" _ **nope**_ **."  
** " _Fine_. Whatever. But you should tell him _something_." They stand, and head towards the kitchen, opening the fridge like they think they're going to find something other than spaghetti in there. "Breakfast at Grillby's before we go to the lab?"  
" **sounds like a plan. it's pasta joke now."** Frisk just chuckles in response. While they're distracted, he reaches into a small shortcut and grabs clothes from his drawer without moving from the couch.  
 _You know I can't carry your lazy ass if you use up all your reserves before we leave the house, right?  
 **takes more than that. careful, it's almost sounding like you're concerned.  
** Only thing I care about is getting out of this nightmare. _Came the huffy reply.  
 _ **you and me both.**_ He starts pulling his night clothes off and pulling his normal clothes on, when he notices Frisk staring. " **...what?"** does he want to know by the look on their face?  
"It's just…" He sits and watches amused as Frisk starts and stops the question several times, obviously trying to think of the least ignorant way to question it, then laughs as they fail miserably as they just burst out "How do you eat? Where does it _go_?! You're literally just a skeleton! I thought you might have had some, like, hidden…. I don't know something. But you're literally-" they cut themselves off, covering their mouth and blushing profusely at the sudden bluntness. If he laughs any harder, he's gonna break a rib.  
" **no fooling you, is there? it's like you can see right through me."** He grins, going back to pulling the white top on. That stops Frisk's blushing and starts them laughing.  
"I'm... gonna... let you finish getting dressed. Meet you at Grillby's." He shoots them a thumbs up, and they leave quickly. He finishes getting dressed.  
 _They have a point._ Chara points out, also on the tail end of laughter. _  
 **they also have the power to essentially time travel and currently live in a cavern full of monsters because they fell down a hole in a mountain.  
**...I'll give you that one. _Chara concedes with a shrug.

One breakfast and one much protested shortcut later, and they are inside Alphys' lab. Her attention is fixated on her computer screen, which is playing some highly pink-toned cartoons, with ramen in hand. Frisk after, waiting a moment or two, starts to speak to gain her attention but noticed Sans is already behind her, smirking. They hadn't heard him move at all.  
 **"what'cha watching?"** he asks directly behind her, over her shoulder. Alphys shrieks and leaping three foot in the air, covering herself in ramen and broth where full on panic mode engaged for a second or two. She then catches up to what just happened, while clutching at her chest and struggling to slow her breathing down.  
"S-Sans! H-h-how many t-times h-have I a-asked you n-n-n-n-not to d-do that!"  
" **low hundreds."** He chuckles, and he can hear Chara laughing their ass off. Frisk decides to stay quiet, watching with interest. Apart from really briefly near the end of their more peaceful travels they hadn't actually seen these two interact all that much. Them having known each other had been gleaned, but Frisk had never got more information on that.  
"H-How many more t-to g-get you t-to actually stop?"  
" **low hundreds."** She pushes at him with a hand as he chuckles harder. " **mornin' alph."  
** "I-it's t-two in the a-afternoon."  
" **it's always morning if you just woke up."  
** "Th- that's not how t-time work-" she pauses "j-just woke u-up? Th-that's l-l-late even for y-you." It's strange seeing Alphys this relaxed this early on in their 'run'.  
 **"i needed a nap to recover from sleeping."** He shrugs casually, and perches on the least cluttered edge of the desk. " **but carry on with explaining how time works. i'm interested now."** Frisk expects some kind of nervous laughter and self-admonishing comment, but to her surprise Alphys buries her head in her hands, blushing red. They can also see how much Sans is genuinely enjoying ribbing her. They have a feeling they know each other much better than either had let on.  
"I-I'm not e-explaining it to y-you of all p-people. Th-that's like explaining m-money t-to Muffet." She complains from behind her hands.  
" **nope, you're not getting out of it that easily."  
** "S-Saaaans…" Frisk hears her laugh, though she still doesn't remove her face. This raises so many more questions, and they thought they already had too many about him. "D-don't make me s-say it."  
" **don't sans me."** But he sounds playful more than angry. " **alphys, royal scientist of King fluffybuns, blah blah blah, etc etc. how. does. time. work?"  
** Frisk watches her flame even redder behind he hands as she replies quietly "t-time is all c-consuming, a-and when i-it f-f-finishes eating it g-goes b-back four seconds." Sans creases up laughing, Alphys groans and Frisk is so surprised they end up laughing along with Sans. All that work for a pun? Oh. my god. At the second voice, Alphys spins, a look of embarrassed dread sinks in as Frisk gives her a wave.

" **oh, yeah, i bought a visitor."**

The change in her temperament is almost immediate, and Sans watches as all that tension he just worked so hard to loosen from her settles back on the scientists' shoulders. What is he going to do with you, Alphys? Mind you, it was nice seeing her that relaxed for even a little bit. He really should visit more often.  
 _How-  
 **nope.  
** But I haven't even-  
 **nope.  
** You-  
 **are gonna keep answering nope. that is also property of the land of nunya.  
** Ass._

"Uhh… Wh-why did y-you…. I m-mean not that i-i m-m-mind, b-but-"  
" **they're helping me with something."  
** "So..."  
 **"we** **need your help as well."** he shrugs.  
"B-but I-I'm n-n-not g-going to b-be that m-much h-help."  
" **would i be here if i believed that?"  
** He watches her wring her claws around each other, and resists the urge to sigh. "I-I guess n-not."  
" **we're gonna need some equipment from downstairs."** He watches her freeze up, but carries on. " **and I need your eyes. you know I suck with the soul stuff compared to you."  
** "N-no, S-sans, I-I-I don't think th-that's-"  
"Please?" Both turn and look at Frisk, who had been silent apart from their quiet burst of laughter. Sans gives them a small, almost imperceptible nod while Alphys' head is turned. Alphys sighs, slumping in defeat.  
"O-okay." Sans stands and Alphys and Frisk follow his lead, one much more reluctant than the other. He wraps a hand into the dog food bag.  
" **you two take the elevator, i'll meet you down there. it's too old to carry three of us."** He's gone before they get the chance to argue.  
He hears the elevator start to drop and the loss of power alarm sound as the lights drop out, and reflexively throws his left hand up, blue magic channeling through it. The elevator slows and lands softly, doors opening with a rusty scratch.  
 _Idiot. This happens each time we take the lift here - they won't die or anything. What did we tell you about wasting energy? It really feels like you're being wasteful to piss me off now.  
_ He wipes away the sweat, and shrugs. _**interrupting the recovery time is worse than me blowing it in the first place, so i don't see why you care.  
**_ …  
 _ **wow. that's gotta be a first. you, speechless?**_

The doors slowly open on the elevator, and he hears a quiet humourless chuckle in the back of his head. _Nothing really does get past you, does it? Well, I needed to speak to Frisk and you wouldn't wake up.  
 **are you saying that i-**_  
 _Don't you dare_  
 _ **-slept like the dead?  
**_ A groan. _Please hurry up and get this over with.  
_ "C-can you feed while the h-human and I r-restore power?" Alphys asks Sans as they leave the elevator, frisk following closely behind.  
 **"'m on it."** He starts wandering around, noticing that the bowls are pretty much where they have always been. Not much changes down here, it seems. As he's filling and putting back the bowls, he gets the distinct feeling of being followed. He summons a single bone to his fingers.  
 _What are you doing?  
_ He tossed it behind him, and listens as it hits a distant wall, then as the sound of slurping footsteps chases the sound. He turns, waiting, as Chara breathes a pre-emptive sigh of relief. The footsteps are coming back twice as fast, with long wet strides. Endogeny tips it's head toward and the bone, now covered in a black substance, drops by San's feet. It vibrates and froths happily, dropping down on it's stomach so Sans can reach its head and ears. He removes the gloves he's wearing so he can give the melted fur and skin a good scratch, skipping two stages and going straight to stage 4 happiness froth.  
 _That's so disgusting.  
 **But he's good dogs.**_ " **so ya missed me, eh bud? sorry, I mastiff got busy."** the dogs leaps to its feet and bounds off, leaving a trail of froth for Sans to follow.  
 _So you worked with Alphys down here?  
 **told ya, soul's not my area.**_ He replies vaguely, letting Chara mull that over for a bit and draw their own conclusions. _  
You get weirder and weirder._ He shrugs in response, following the trail. Endogeny leads him to the vending machine, and vibrates happily frothing over from the face hole again. Sans gives him more pets and almost a whole bag of chisps whilst throwing it the bone idly until Frisk and Alphys get the lights back on. He quickly disposes of the bag before the sound of Alphys' awkward and nervous chatter come echoing down the hall, and by the way she's rambling he has a pang of sympathy for Frisk who seems to be listening silently to the pros and cons of brand ramen versus cheap ones. Endogeny's ears and face void drop sadly with a bubbly whine. " **don't give me that look. you know how she is about you having chips, and you just had nearly _all_ the chips. that's nothing to sniff at." **He chuckles at the fact the the dog droops more as he finishes the joke.  
"D-done already?" Alphys asks as they turn the corner and come across Sans and Endogeny. She goes to shoo the amalgamation away, but Frisk starts towards it to give it pets and on top of Sans having already done so, it sinks down into a happy puddle and starts to snooze.  
" **yep."  
** "O-okay. So…. This w-way." She hesitantly starts leading them towards the area of the lab with the equipment they need. "wh-what d-do you need i-it for?"  
" **just a look, nothing more. it might be related to the project."  
** Frisk was about to stare him down for being vague and unhelpful again, but Alphys exclaims "O-oh! Did you make a b-b-b-b-breakthrough?"  
" **might have been close the other night, but i got interrupted."  
** _I know you're aiming that at me. It wasn't my fault.  
_ "W-well… I might not know everything a-about it… a-and understand even l-less of it… but I know th-that's if anyone can do it-" she stops with a blush, and Sans shrugs, looking like he's really uncomfortable with the praise. "so why…i-i mean, why do you n-need a breakdown o-of your s-soul l-levels? I m-mean I assume that's... what you're here f-for."  
 _Your what now?_ As he hears it, Frisk gives him a look that says the same thing. He ignores it for a minute, keeping Alphys talking while she was focused on the actual science bit rather than her (in his opinion, incorrect) poor view of herself. " **curiosity, mostly."  
** "Y-you think there m-might be a l-link?"  
" **less of a link, more of an effect. and what better baseline than the soul with the least variables?"**

Well. It wasn't a complete lie.

Frisk watches quietly, amazed at what she was seeing right now. Sans had gotten Alphys to focus, and her tone was interested and was speaking with the same fervour that Frisk had started to think was reserved specifically for talking about anime. and while Sans wasn't any different to look at... Not with a first glance, anyway, there was a gleam in his eye they'd not seen. Papyrus' words come back to her. He definitely looks like he's enjoying the sci-fi when it's real. They'd lapsed into technical words that Frisk couldn't keep up with, but they were enjoying watching this moment as they walked down the previously spooky-seeming corridors. They all turned a corner and entered a room with machinery that looked similar to the DT machine, but less intimidating and much smaller and with more screens. They noticed that a lot of the writing was in the weird symbols that they recognised even if they couldn't read them.

Alphys pulls up a wheeled chair, while Sans hesitates by the machine, an unreadable look on his face as the white pupils fixed on it.  
"I-I know you d-don't like it but…"  
" **we shouldn't be doing it with the suspension container today anyway. extraneous variables."** Frisk's not sure if he's telling himself or Alphys that.  
"R-right."  
The moment and the look passed and he sits himself onto the chair that's behind the equipment and pulls the main part of the machine over his rib area. Frisk watches Alphys press a few buttons, making the machinery thrum to life.  
"Do you read the symbols as well, Alphys?" Frisk asked curiously.  
"N-not really. Sans t-taught me how t-to use the level scanner and-"  
" **before i die of boredom in here, alph."  
** "Oh, r-right. Sorry." Well, maybe they could ask her again when he wasn't around to cut in. Maybe Alphys would actually have some answers as far as the skeleton was concerned.

Inside his pocket, his bony finger was tapping out a nervous rhythm.  
 _If I didn't know you better, I would say you were nervous.  
 **yeah, things poking around in your soul tend to do that to you.  
** Aww, wanna cry and hug it out? _He didn't care for the mocking tone.  
 _ **go wherever it is you go when you shut up.**_ They sneer wordlessly. _**besides, you're an extraneous variable, in case you didn't get that. you want us to get the right answers, you need to be not here.**_

They hesitate. It's every time they're not here that they go to the coloured place. But, at the same time if he was right. As much as they hated to admit that.

 _Fine._

The screens fill with charts that he's seen before, but Sans reads them over Alphys' shoulder anyway to take his mind off of where he is sat. He hates this machine, and if it weren't for the fact he wasn't sure if Chara could take over his body easier without a soul in it, he would have done it the easier way. His brow bones furrow. Some of his readings were… odd. Well, odder than usual.

" **hey, alph. print out the readings on the left."  
** Alphys looked over to the ones he mentioned, and he watches as she triple-checks the numbers. "These h-have to b-b-be wrong. I m-must have d-done something wr-wrong! I'll recalibrate i-if you-"  
 **"print 'em."  
** "A-are you sure? If you use incorrect data as the c-c-control-"  
" **alphys."** Sans cuts in firmly.  
"What is it?" Frisk's worried voice cut in. They both startled. Where they had got so caught up in what they were doing, they had forgotten Frisk was there where they had stayed so quiet. Neither answered, but then Alphys sighed and the sound of a few keystrokes and the sound of the printer spitting out data onto paper furiously cut through the tense silence like a knife. Frisk grabs it, and walks it over to them, where Sans snags it quickly. Two pairs of eyes bore into him as he reads over the information quickly. He holds out his left hand, and it glows soft blue, and papers that litter the room raise about a foot into the air, suspended like oil in water.  
 **"print again."** Alphys doesn't hesitate this time, and makes another set of quick keystrokes as everything settles back to the surface it was touching. Frisk walks to the printer and back, passing the information to him. Alphys is chewing on her claws nervously as he reads the second page. His thumb comes up to his permanent grin and taps on his teeth thoughtfully, and again they all wait in silence. " **huh."**

Frisk goes to speak, but stops when Alphys shakes her head and holds up a 'wait' claw motion, still not taking her eyes off of him. He pushes the screening machine away from his body, and swings his legs around so he's more comfortable, then sets the papers next to him. Two boney palms come up, and his soul flickers into the closest representative of a physical manifestation that monsters manage.

Alphys gasps. San's eye sockets grow large in nothing short of horror.

Frisk has seen monster souls before. They're not 100% familiar with them, but they know enough that the thin spider web-like cracks that mar the surface of what they were seeing shouldn't be there. Worse, it was like they were bleeding a faint light.

"...Blue and yellow." They breathed quietly into the silent room. The sudden flash of light and cry of pain brought the room back to a frenetic energy.


	10. Chapter 10 - Judgement

The agony through his eye enveloped him quickly, dragging him down into the dark. In the muted blank space, he could distinctly hear sobbing. He headed towards it, and there was no invisible walls this time. _They're ready._ The whispers echoed around him like soft breathing, it reminded him of the echo flower field. As he moved, he began to see soft lights of yellow and blue light pulsating in the distance, and headed towards that, confused by what the hell was going on around here. He came across a child, looking about the same age as Frisk's physical age, give or take a few years in either direction. They were collapsed and wrapped in a cocoon of blue and yellow, light weaving in and out their skin on their arms and legs, into their their ears, out of their eyes, with no seeming beginning or end. Tears streamed down the face as they cried pitifully, but strangely now that he was closer the sobs were quieter.

" **who are you? where are we?"  
** "No more. I don't want any more. Please, stop it." It was like they hadn't heard it at all.  
" **hey. kid."** He bends down, and takes their face in his hands, tilting their head back. The incandescent streams part around his limbs, swallowing his arms and he feels his soul hum in response. The deja vu that sees him through and the red stained eyes make it click. His pupils dim in anger. " **you're them, right?"  
** "S-Sans?" The eyes focus on him, and he sees relief flood them. The voice is small and pitiful. The tears fall harder. He's torn between sympathy and so much hate that he drops their face in disgust. He stands, hands in pockets, looking down on their small, hunched form. The lights keep them entwined. "It h-hurts. please... help..."  
 **"and i should help you... why?"  
** "You… can't just … please help me." They reach out a hand, and he steps back, making the light extend. His left eye flared with magic, and Chara cries out, hand dropping. Their body trembles like a leaf.

Was... this … him doing... this…?

" **you know… it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing… flowers are blooming… why shouldn't I just leave a kid like you... to burn in hell?"  
** Everything about them shrinks more inward with a flinch at his tone. But then… They surprise him. "M-maybe you should. I don't… deserve your help." As they speak, he sees numbers flare around their spirit. Numbers he knows well; numbers only he knows how to see and read the symbols of. They tick down.  
"I did horrible things. I hurt my mother." Tick  
"I hurt my father." Tick  
"I killed my brother."Tick  
"I killed _your_ brother." Tick  
"You." Tick  
"Everyone." Tick.

"I don't deserve your mercy. I don't deserve _anyone's_ mercy, or their love, or their hate, or anything from them." They start ticking down slightly faster. Chara brings shaking hands up to their face and bury it, but the voice is still audible and completely unmuffled. "Everyone showed me love down here. Every time. And every time I show them LOVE. Then, I tried to completely erase them. I don't... even... know why anymore."  
He says nothing, standing over them, but left eye's glow slowly dimming. The lights around them dim, too, not yet disappearing.  
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. And I would do anything to tell them that." The numbers settle, and hang in the air, surrounding them with the same set of symbols repeated over and over shining a dark grey over the endless black.

*LV 1 HP 20/20 AT 0 DF 0 EXP 0

Well, that was new.

He bends down… and extends a hand towards them. They look up at him. " **it's not going to stay there forever."** They hesitate, then take his hand. He helps pull them up to their feet and they mutter a thanks, but won't even look at him. He puts his hands back in his pockets, staring right through them. He wonders if this what the child who had initially fallen was like? The one the stories said the underground had fallen in love with immediately. The lights slowly fade, all of them, and they are in a void of nothingness. The sobs have stopped, but their face still shows the wet streaks down their cheeks. " _ **if**_ **i decide to let you leave, what are you going to do?"  
** "I don't…. Know. Honestly. I just want to… stop hating everything. Stop hurting them all."  
The black around them slowly brightens, and fills with an orange light. It's like a hazy copy of the judgement hall where they spent so long fighting. A copy of a memory in a dream. " **how?"  
** "With... everyone's help. Doing things my way always end in destruction and death. Without getting angry just because I'm not winning or getting my way. Without LOVE in my heart but with love."  
 **"hmm... sounds like a tall order, with a steep learning curve."  
** They look up, the hazy form of twilight on their face making the tear streaks shine. And they smile. "I can't get any better guides than the ones I have around me now."  
He smiles back, and removes his hands from his pockets. The arms spread wide.

*SANS IS SPARING YOU

Chara doesn't hesitate. They close the gap, put their arms around him, and they cry.

"I-I'm still n-not g-g-getting a response … wh-what do I do?" Alphys is fretting, pacing around the space after checking him for about the hundredth time. Frisk puts an arm out from where they are sat beside Sans, other hand on his, catching Alphys's sleeve. They motion to him, and they notice the eye has dimmed, leaving hollow sockets.  
"What if we try scanning him? The magic seems to have stopped… leaking." They really need a better phrase for that.  
"U-uh, yes. Maybe." She pauses, and takes a breath. "O-okay." Frisk pulls the machine back over Sans' rib area, and stands to the side. Alphys shakily starts typing into the machine, and it comes back to life, seeming to roar in the tense and shaky silence. A moment later, and she sighs with relief. "T-the levels a-are more st-stable than they were. Still t-t-too high, b-but… b-b-better."  
"Then we wait. We should put him in one of the beds."  
"Y-yeah. B-b-b-but how? n-neither of us i-is st-strong enough..."  
Frisk gives a sharp whistle, and Endogeny appears from around the corner, amorphous body moving as fast as it can move it. Which is quite a speed. It enters the room, and stands over Frisk, ready. They point at Sans. " He needs to go to the beds. Can you help us?"  
Endogeny moves over to the bed, and puts their hole over Sans. A burbling sniffing can be heard, then the amalgamation lowers their head and body down as low as possible with a sad-sounding gurgling whine. Frisk nods to Alphys and they both get him settled on the back of the beast. "Thank you. Go slow, he might get hurt if he falls." They stand, and slowly lead the way to the rest area, only stopping when they are by one of the beds. They then sink down again so Frisk and Alphys can carefully shift him. Still no response, eye sockets still open and vacant of the pupils.

"He'll be fine." They're not sure if they are reassuring themselves, endogeny, or Alphys.

They're sat in the imprint of the hall where they judged and were judged so many times, Chara doesn't think it is on purpose but they find it fitting. Chara sat with their arms folded around their knees, Sans sat with his legs outstretched and leaning back on his hands. The silence was more comfortable than either of them would have ever thought it could be, but it had to be broken eventually.  
"...I won't tell anyone about this… whatever this was."  
Sans sighs next to them, shifting his weight slightly as he shrugs. " **even I don't know. i have a theory, but i would have to run it past alphys first."  
** "...Are you sure you want to? You're not exactly an open book. And you're even harder to read even if you get the front cover open."  
" **you going for a pun or a metaphor?"  
"**Hmm…. Both." He chuckles quietly next to them, and they both lapse into silence. He decides to extend them a branch of trust. He's not ready to be 'besties' to steal Undyne's term, or any kind of friends, but it's just them two here and it'll also be interesting to see what they do with the information with their little insight.  
" **you know the whole soul speech, so i'll skip to the part that matters. a monster's magic is like a manifestation of their soul, right?"  
** "...yeah…" they reply hesitantly, cautiously, no idea where this was going and waiting for the trap.  
 **"bearing that in mind, why don't you think I talk about it?** " He looks at them unreadably, before cocking a grin. " **and I don't mean the shortcuts, although it is hilarious to prank pap across the space-time continuum, but that's mostly just science with a little help making connections."** They lean their head onto their knees, trying to put the pieces together that he obviously thinks they have. It feels like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together without a picture to guide them. Or a picture on the jigsaw either, trying to jam together blank and oddly shaped tiles until they make a rectangle. But Sans doesn't say anything more, leaving them to think it over for as long as it takes. They think... the think they get there. Eventually.  
"Because… because it's karma, right? Undyne was really affected by it although it didn't do much damage because I'm guessing her LOVE is not so high? And every time you've fought…" a breath "that you've fought me and Frisk, our LOVE was so high that we took much more damage but didn't feel the effects so much because we were so distant from the violence and the hurt we'd caused." He nods, encouraging the line of thought. "It's like... Your magic doesn't attack the body, it attacks the soul. Kind of, any way. And… you think, and this is a guess because by now I am sure that _only_ you will ever know what is actually going on up in that empty skull of yours, that it's somehow a bad thing."  
 **"isn't it?"  
** This surprises them. "What do you mean?"  
 **"seeing people as a jumble of numbers, only being able to hurt based on how much they hurt, not having enough strength or hp to take more than a single hit. it's not exactly a good manifestation, is it?"  
** "Why not?"  
 **"a monster's magic is a reflection of their soul… so what does it mean for me? magic that rips you apart and drags you under with no hopes of escape, designed to destroy and only after you've done enough that the world is filled with dust. i can't access even the smallest amount of healing magic like most can. It doesn't say a lot about the soul that reflects that magic, does it?"**

They pause, thinking it over. "I think… you're looking at it from the wrong angle." He turns his head, cocking an eye socket questioningly. "I wouldn't be here right now if your soul was a soul designed to destroy. You've watched as we've destroyed everything over and over, yet every time Frisk comes through that door, you try to make them happy when they're in control. And I know what you say about how it doesn't matter because of the resets and that you're just trying to keep the anomaly happy and because you promised mom, but… who else would do all that? Who else would do all that when they know what you do AND not tell anyone about it? On top of whatever else it is that you are researching and trying to solve. Everything that makes your magic unique… comes from a good place. I'm sure of it." They stand, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Try thinking about it later. We have to wake up now."


	11. Chapter 11 - Finally, Answers

/Okay, so. Honesty time: I'm enough of a nerd that since the first genocide playthrough I ever watched, I started looking into quantum mechanics as best as I could and trying to see if there was a way they would fit into the canon without it just being a fourth wall breaking piece of shit. Toby Fox doesn't do things without reason, and there's no way that Sans is a fourth-wall breaking headache for the sake of it considering the layered development - and how much thought and time toby put into the game overall. And... I found out two things: (a) there actually is if I am understanding the material I am reading correctly (Which I think I am, but who knows because the other thing I found out is-) (b) I literally get a migraine from quantum mechanics. Also, my headcanon (briefly touched upon in the last chapter) is that he uses gravity magic to bend the fabric of space-time, but it uses a lot of energy and he cannot muster enough to do more than move through quantum layers to move from one area to another. Any more than that puts too much strain on his magic and soul - he's already tried.  
I am not a theoretical physist in any means, but I am always open to discussions and personal theories also, especially if anyone has any personal takes from a more informed standpoint.

TL;DR - Quantum physics makes my brain literally hurt and any errors in this bit of the story are my own hahaha. (also dammit toby, we need answers! XD) Thanks for keeping reading, I will stop rambling now :D \\\

* * *

Frisk hasn't left the side of the bed for an hour, keeping a hand over his and biting their lip. They cry out for Alphys excitedly when they feel the bony hand twitch under theirs. The eye sockets closed and open a couple of times, desperately trying to catch up to where he was around the fog. He can't make out all the words yet, Alphys' rambling and Frisk's concern jumble into a mess of sound. His head hurts. He goes to move, but feels hands on him.

Man, he's tired. It feels like he hasn't got an ounce of magic left in his body.

He lets his eye sockets drift close, and lapses into sleep. Chara sits themselves down by his feet, and lets him be. They look at Frisk, then back to where their legs would be if they had an actual body rather than a spiritual one. They wonder if, once he's awake, he will let them apologize. But for now, they let him sleep, settling in to wait patiently. Well, as patiently as they can manage.

Frisk ended up having to bring Papyrus to see his brother at the end of the first day after the whole incident - they couldn't keep lying about where he was or that he was fine. And they thought that Sans would appreciate waking up in anywhere _but_ the lab. Alphys had to explain to him and Undyne what the lab was, where it was, and what happened. And now, with Undyne's help, she was preparing to tell the families of the amalgamations what happened to their family. Papyrus hasn't been so easy to settle, but Frisk keeps him as calm as possible and neither of them have left Sans alone for long - leaving him in shifts if either needs to leave the house for any reason. Despite it all, Frisk allows themself a small smile. It might not be all happening in the same way, but this timeline still has the pieces, and were falling into the places they needed to be to get the good ending. What they have come to realise is the best ending, even if there is no Asriel. And they were determined that this one was going to be it, no matter what.

No more resets.

"HUMAN-FRISK! HE'S AWAKE!"  
The holler comes three days later, thick with relief and excitement. They take the stairs two at a time with a glass of water for him in hand. Sans yawns and stretches, realigning the bones through his body to try and unstiffen as he's been laid on his side since being put down there. " **not s'loud pap…"** he mumbles sleepily before falling back over onto his side.  
"SORRY." it's an inside voice, so Frisk shoots him a thumbs up before setting the glass down beside Sans' head.  
 _ **how long was i out of it?**_ he asks, letting the water refresh him.  
 _Three days. Everyone's been worried.  
 **jeez, no wonder papyrus sounds like he's about to climb out of his skin.**_ Then he rubs the sleep out of his eye sockets and takes a proper look at his brother. The expression on his face is ready to break at any minute. " **...don't cry, pap. c'mere."** He grabs his brother's hand and pulls him down to his level before wrapping him in a hug. He would normally tease him about it, but after being asleep for three days, he was gonna let him have it for now.  
"I'M NOT CRYING! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DO NOT CRY AND ALSO NEVER ONCE DOUBTED THAT MY L-LAZYBONES BROTHER WAS GOING TO W-WAKE UP." Sans chuckles softly at the voice muffled in his rumpled hoodie. "I HAVE SOMETHING IN MY EYES, THAT'S ALL."  
 **"is that so? and what's that then?"  
** "TEARS!" his little brother exclaims, and Sans just pats his back with a quiet chuckle. As soon as Papyrus has let it out of his system and moved away, he's then met with a tackle of arms around him again, this time more fleshy.  
" **sorry kiddo."  
** "You slept a skele-ton." He laughs, quick but genuine, and Frisk lets him go with a grin.  
 _Frisk, no!  
_ "SANS NO!"  
" **he he he, sleeping that long is the stuff of dreams."  
** "I thought you would get tired of sleeping!"  
"PLEASE STOP."  
 _I'm with the tall one on this one._  
" **nah, it comes naturally. i can do it with my eyes closed."** both Frisk and Sans share a laugh, and the nervous tension in the room dissipates as Papyrus grumbles something to himself and goes downstairs to find them something to eat. " **what did I miss?"  
** "Nothing, really. I couldn't go on to new home without you about… and I didn't want to anyway. Undyne and Alphys are talking to the families of the amalgamates, and Alphys wants to get you in for another round of readings when you're feeling up to it. Oh! And Mom stopped by yesterday and will probably be in later, but that's about it."  
"... **who?"  
** "Oh! Toriel. Sorry. I called her when… you wouldn't wake up. Nobody knew what to do, so I thought I would give her a call and see if she had any ideas. She wasn't able to stay because of her duties in the ruins, but she came and visited for a couple of hours in the evening. She said that she normally has a couple of hours free in that time anyway and she was going to feel _bonely_ if she was sat around doing nothing."  
 _Those were her exact words. She's only got worse since I knew her._ But Sans notes the fondness and humour, rather than venom, to the statement.  
 **"did alph have any ideas on how to put chara back?"** He's met with silence on bother sides, and he shrugs. " **'kay. i'm gonna shower in that case."**

Frisk nods and leaves him to give Sans time pull himself together after being out of it for so long.

 _I've been thinking.  
 **uh oh.**_ He turns the water off, he'd pretty much just stood under the hot water letting it loosen his sleep stiff joints. He steps out and grabs a towel.  
 _No, hear me out before you say anything.  
 **i'm all ears  
** You don't have ears. _Sans laughs, making his way back to his room. He grabs clothes from the drawer and starts pulling them on. _Should we hold off?  
_ Sans pauses, halfway through pulling on shorts. **...** _ **what do you mean?  
** Well. I mean, I don't know what your theory was behind this whole idea, but… I… kind of… enjoy being myself again. Sitting and listening to mom tell_ _her bad jokes, the way she laughed when you were talking through the door, feeling things other than hate and anger._ He goes back to pulling on clothes, but slowly as he listens. _And other than that, I don't know if or how being attached to Frisk's determination is going to affect how I'm feeling right now. Especially with the power to reset, and that temptation.  
 **you're free of LOVE right now, as is frisk so it might not be a problem.  
** But it might.  
 **don't know until we talk to alph, so it's not worth worrying about yet.**_ He shrugs, shoving his feet in his slippers, grabbing a notepad from the drawer, and starting to make his way downstairs.  
 _You make everything sound so easy.  
 **it's not easy, it's prioritising and right now i am prioritising 'i have been asleep for 3 days and i could even manage a plate of pap's cooking'.**_ Chara's laugh is the only response he gets. It still doesn't sit right with him, but he can do amicable. He might not ever be ready to actually be friends, but he can definitely manage amicable for now.

The morning passes in a pleasant blur to a backing track of Papyrus enthusiastically catching him up on everything that had been going on while he had been sleeping, him sat with his back against the arm of the couch, notepad on his knees as a prop and Frisk sat by his feet chiming in with the odd detail and joke every now and again, sending a few texts through the morning. Breakfast, surprisingly, is actually some pie apparently left by "clone Asgore" as his brother has seems to have dubbed Toriel, and his stomach is very grateful for that. And his sense of tastes - it is amazing. He's happy to just take the morning lazily, jotting the odd thing down on the pad in his preferred font, wing dings being the way he prefers to do anything for thinking over later. Old habits dying hard and all that. It's about lunchtime when Papyrus decided he's going to go tell Undyne (and no doubt the whole town on his way) the good news. As soon as he's gone, Chara gives Sans a mental poke.

 _Hey. Can I ask a favour?  
 **shoot.  
** I wanna speak to Frisk. Just quickly._ He pauses, debating with himself. _I... want to apologize to them._

"Frisk?" Frisk's head whips around, and they narrow their eyes at them. Chara sets aside the notepad and tucks Sans' feet up under his pelvis, sitting more comfortably. "I asked first, don't look at me like that." The look stays the same. They sigh, and drop their gaze to their currently boney hands. "I need to apologize. I can understand if you can't forgive me, but… I needed to say it. I've gained some… perspective. And no matter what happens or how this ends, I wanted you to know that I'm sorry.." red fades to white before frisk replies, and San's shakes his head, straightening himself out.  
 _ **not even going to wait to see what they say? and i told you you could speak to them, not throw my spine out of alignment - i haven't got fleshy parts to keep them in place.  
** Sorry, I forgot. And as for Frisk... I can hear it anyway. But I know them, and they're going to want to think on it for a bit.  
_Frisk nods for now, and they sit looking thoughtful.  
" **kid, think about it for a while. for now, we should probably think about speaking to alphys."  
** "Yeah, I want answers too."

They enter the lab in the same way, this time Alphys is sat at her desk upstairs making a phone call. Frisk watches Sans quietly walk round to the up elevator, then look back at them and nod. They SAVE, and then he walks up and around behind her. They don't know how he does it, but the last step into her personal space coincides with her hanging up.  
 **"what'cha doin' alph?"** And again, without fail, she shrieks, phone clattering to the floor and nearly jumping out of her skin. She whirls around and'  
"SANS!" she throws her arms around him as he laughs, then realises that she'd done so and quickly steps back and moves away. "I-I-I've- I mean, we've all b-been worried!"  
 **"heh, it's been a long time since i've run that low. sorry."  
** "Well… a-as long as y-you're o-okay…."  
 **"i had a good** _ **power nap**_ **."** He's given a worried look as he hears Chara scoff. **"that's not gonna stop you from putting me in the machine, is it?"  
** "N-no. A-and you've got some e-e-explaining to do. Y-you lied about w-why you wanted to have the sc-scans and made me th-think I-I'd done something… this i-is like wh-when you left your p-position, all over again! Y-You keep d-d-doing this!" she rants at him, throwing her hands up. She takes a breath, then finishes quietly. "...you had the same l-look about you too…"

He rubs the back of his skull, ashamed. " **sorry, alph, i had no idea that was going to happen. but yeah, i guess an explanation is the least i owe you."**

She points an angry claw at him, then drops it along with whatever she was about to say. She instead huffs, then gives him a smile. "W-well, until i-it went haywire, it was nice w-working with y-you again."  
" **...was it…"  
** "D-don't say it, i know that t-tone-"  
" _ **sans**_ **ational?"**

"W-we'll meet you downstairs."

He's sat on the waiting couch with Frisk next to him, looking at his soul in the jar in the smaller version of the scanner. There's nothing but relief that the fractures seem to be gone - Frisk's thinking the same thing by the look on their face. _You know, it's weird when you monsters just put them on display like that.  
 **it's not like it feels great either, but it's better than being sat in the machine.  
** Why do you hate it so much? _He just shrugs, and they drop it knowing that it's probably also filed under 'nunya'. At this moment, Alphys starts the scan, turning to him.  
"So, I-I'm doing my bit. Y-your turn."  
" **gee, alph, you getting all assertive on me now?"** He receives two unimpressed looks and a mental unimpressed grumble. " **fine, fine. you know when i left the dt project, i told you i was going to focus on the quantum thing i was working on."** It doesn't even take effort to say 'I' instead of 'we' any more when talking to her, he notices with a small twinge of sadness.  
"The effects of quantum layers, possible links in integral pathways and alternate universes, and the effects on monsters and the increase in deja vu among the citizens, r-right? St-still can't believe you called it a 'passion project'." Just that sentence made Frisk's head hurt.  
 _The what now?_ Chara sounds just as puzzled as Frisk looks.  
" **that's the one."  
** "S-so you made a breakthrough after all?"

He takes a breath, and Frisk sees science mode go into overdrive in his eye lights.

" **kind of. you might want to get that scan printed, because it's gonna be so far from what you were expecting. even by the normal standard, you are not going to believe this."** It takes a few moments, but the printer spits out the information and without moving he grabs both the paper and the soul containment jar with blue magic. His levels were his usual level of odd, and his soul is back where it's supposed to be. And now, he officially has nothing to stall this with anymore. He pushes it out because if he stops, he's not going to get the courage to start again. " **well, i found evidence of timelines looping back on themselves, fracturing and jumping away from their start point, away from their end points. they would stop and start, curves became spirals, they folded back on themselves, sometimes over and over. i theorised that this was the cause of deja vu, timelines and the fabrics of space-time touching where they shouldn't be, that kind of thing. looking into it further, at any one point, there can only be one point of origin, existing both inside and outside of the timeline at the same time. something that can and can't exist at the same time… an anomaly. i traced the timelines back, kept my ear out for instances of deja vu and predictions of small events from monsters who have no previous evidence of precognition. i found it, tried appeasing it in the first place, tried hunting it when it got bored of playing nice-"** he is not mentioning what the first anomaly is, Alphys is working past one lot of guilt already "- **but it was pointless in the end. nothing i did changed it, and i noticed every time i caused it to die, the timeline would be consumed and would go back to another start point. think of these start points like a SAVE in a video game. a point in time in which the anomaly decided on a course of action and was determined to see it through no matter what, so whatever 'progress' they've made up until that point gets stored outside of time, and they can return to that point if they die or make a mistake… or get bored and decide they want to change thing up a bit - for better or worse. i used to keep track of everything, what happened to us all before i would cause a LOAD, to keep the video game analogy, or a reset. sometimes it would reset completely, i finally noticed, with no feelings of deja vu but they were a lot harder to keep track of and predict, so i stopped trying to track them specifically. a 'true reset' if you will, like they had never been in the first place. not even with knowing it was happening could make me remember; but between the findings and my observations of the underground, and learning to read into and trust both the deja vu - if it felt like it had happened before it probably had done - and the data stored on other paths or touching threads looping back. so yeah, nothing worked. then all of a sudden, the feelings of deja vu settled, the time lines straightened out… well, they stopped looping and fracturing at least, and for a while, everything settled down. then, all of a sudden, it started happening again except this time, at the end, several timelines merged and came to a dead end. i went straight to what i thought was the source, but it became readily apparent that it wasn't them. hunt number two was on…. And i found them. again, I tried the same things, again it seemed as pointless as the first time, but hey. i'm always being told i'm stubborn."** He shrugs and for the first time since he started explaining, he looks at the audience of two.

 _I was wrong. I don't want to know any of this. My head hurts._ Sorry, three. Frisk is sat wide-eyed, just staring at him silently. Alphys looks like she's ready to pass out, but is slowly digesting the information as best as she can.

 _ **think i might have got carried away a bit. oops.  
** You 'think'?  
 **i could go into the actual quantum science behind it if you really like? after all, we've pretty much got all the time in the world considering past present and future probably exist simultaneously-  
** Bleugh, please stop before i make you vomit. _Sans laughs quietly to himself.

"So… what d-does that have to d-d-do with the scan?" Alphys puts her hands on either side of her head and tries to start massaging out the headache that probably all but him had right now. To be fair, he's had a whole lot longer than most to wrap his head around it.  
 **"sorry, i got carried away on the context, huh? so, long story short, when the anomaly-"  
** "Me." Frisk says quietly, then looks at him with a smile. "If she's knowing everything, then it's only fair she knows that too."  
Alphys jerks her head towards Frisk with a startled squeak. "Wh-WHAT?!"  
"I'm the second anon- anomon- I'm the second one."  
" **when frisk,"** he continues, drawing Alphys attention before the freaking out gets into full swing otherwise they were never going to get there. " **made the last reset, the conditions were… dramatically different. normally, a reset causes all the conditions to reset to the initial 'world SAVE' point - in this case, when they fell - which is just a common point for the majority of timelines to merge and branch from. The 'new game' button, if we're sticking to the video game analogy. and this is where it gets messy."**

"...M-messy." Alphys repeats.

"My determination, which is how I do all the resets and the loads and saves, woke another person up when I fell. They didn't have their own soul, but they were also determined."  
 _Can I-  
 **...you know what? sure. i'm getting tired of talking for now anyway.**_ He mentally shrugs and lets Chara take over.

"Uhh… that would be me."

"Sa… oh god." Alphys slides off her chair, looking a very pale shade of yellow. Frisk runs and fetches some water while Chara helps her up and over to the couch. They wait for her to indicate that she's ready to continue.  
"That's Chara. Through most of the timelines, they were attached to my determination."  
"Th-Then… h-how… w-w-why…" Frisk pauses, looking down at their hands quietly as Alphys tries to fram the question. Chara takes up the explanation.  
"We made some bad choices. Frisk… and I… we were getting bored. We'd reset hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times trying to save _everyone_. Frisk kept resetting, and someone would always be sacrificed or left behind. It didn't matter how we did it. Frisk… took her frustration out on some monsters in the ruins on my advice. They regretted it and made their way to the reset point, but… I… didn't want to. We would end up arguing and bickering. I wanted the feeling of power back - for a while I had felt like a person tied down to a chair and forced to watch a movie on repeat and that feeling of power in Frisk's soul… I liked it. So in the end, after enough pushing, I managed to figure out how to influence them."  
"A-and now y-you're…"  
"No! I mean, no. This isn't the same. Sans is… very good at keeping a damper on me, I found."  
 _ **aww, was that a compliment? i'm flattered.  
** Yeah, yeah._ "He's letting me speak to you, and I'm not really in the mood for a hostile takeover. We don't share thoughts and memories. We can communicate, sometimes sense… feelings… but it's not a sharing thing."  
"O-oh. Okay… so… you influenced Frisk?"  
"We killed everyone." Frisk speaks softly, Chara takes their hand.  
"Mostly it was me. I… I took control, fueled by LOVE. And there, in the hall, was Sans to meet us. He was always in the hall to meet us. Normally, it was… well, I'm going to be honest, and you-" they tap their forehead to make sure Sans knows exactly who they mean by the 'you' "-will say nothing. Not a damned word. Sans is not easy to fight; it got to the point where he was the only real obstacle anymore." _**n** **ot saying a word.**_ So much smug. So much. "Yeah, yeah, can it. But anyway, he was an obstacle, but one we could normally overcome in the end. This time, however… not so much, and I got desperate. I was determined to force us to the end of the road so I could… i guess 'consume the timeline', as he put it, is the best phrase… and I got desperate. Next thing I know, I wake up next to him."

Chara steps back into his mind, and Sans is back to being himself with red fading to white as Frisk speaks up. "I think… I think he injected himself with determination."

Sans looks away from Alphys as she looks at him in horror. **"don't ask me why, beyond thinking that it was going to be reset so it didn't matter, because i don't remember what i was thinking in that timeline."  
** "That's why we came to find you. To see if there's a way we can disconnect them."

"I… I need a-a m-m-minute."

They wait as Alphys takes a minute to process the info dump she had received. It was a bit like watching a computer blue-screen and reboot, Sans thought to himself with an odd sense of amusement. odd, because he definitely shouldn't be amused right now, and Chara's not. Welp, chalk it up to an odd sense of humour.

"This is… l-l-l-like something r-right out of an anime!" She eventually cried when brain caught up.  
 _...she's kidding, right?_ Frisk looks at her, between amusement and confused exasperation. Sans just shrugs.  
 **"whatever helps you process it, i guess."  
** "Why haven't you told anyone, Sans? Can you imagine the implications? The-"  
 **"no."** he interrupts her, sockets dark and deadly serious. She freezes. The pupils blink back in. **"quantum mechanics and theories are delicate and impermanent at best anyway, but beyond that… do you want to be the one to tell everyone that at any minute their lives could go back god knows how long because someone felt like it? or that their deja vu is not actually that but memories they don't remember from who knows when?"** Alphys shakes her head after thinking about it for a moment. " **this isn't some missing family members, alph. this is… mass panic, at very best."** He knew how the knowledge made him feel, let alone spreading that across the underground. **"everyone has hope still. we can't destroy that."  
** She sighs, deflating. "Y-yeah, I know. B-but I d-don't want t-t-to have to keep k-keeping s-secrets, either."  
 **"i know, alph. i know. and i know that it's not fair to ask, either, but that's the trouble with the truth - it can make everything better and it can make everything worse. but that's why i'm gonna tell you now… i had frisk make a save when we came in. once you've heard us out, and got your answers, you have a choice. if you don't feel like it's a secret you can or want to keep… they can load to before you knew all this."** Frisk nods. **"i'm not going to be the one to tell you that you have to sit on this world changing secret… not when you just started getting to being your old self again."**

"...I… I d-don't…"

 **"You don't have to answer now. one thing at a time."**

"O-one thing at a…? o-oh, right. I-I f-f-forgot." She looks around to find the paper that Chara had put aside when they helped her to the couch and found that she had been leaning on it on top of the arm. She looks at the readings, and he watches her pale again. "N-no, this can't be right. They're st-still so high…"  
 **"that's my baseline."  
** She looks up at him, jaw dropped open. "Th-th-that's not-"  
" **yup."  
** "B-But these are…. I mean, they're n-not quite as high as the h-h-human souls, b-but these are almost h-human levels, Sans. O-or, near enough. N-No m-m-monster soul should b-be able to s-sustain these. N-n-not in a way that k-keeps them upright and…"  
 **"not a puddle?"** Alphys flinches, but he doesn't offer an apology for the blunt phrasing. **"either way, that's what they've always been."**

 _...What?_

"Uhm… can I see?" Frisk speaks up. Alphys hands them the paper distractedly, staring at him like he was going to break at any moment. They don't understand much of it at all, but they can recognise the colours on the graph near the bottom of the paper. Most of them are fairly low, the red bar is slightly higher but they assume that is Chara's spirit doing that. No, there were two bars that stood out on the page like sore spots. The light blue and the yellow ones. "Why are they that much higher?"  
Sans shrugs, starting to look uncomfortable under Alphys' unblinking clinical gaze. It looks like she's on the verge of an epiphany.  
 _What do the blue and yellow mean?  
 **what?  
** Well, Alphys is freaking out that you should be like the amalgamates, and the high bars were light blue and yellow. In that… void, the lights that held me were always blue and yellow. I can add two and two and make a link to four.  
 **just wait. i need to get her to finish helping me and i can tell you for sure.  
** Well, it's taki- _they take a breath. _Okay. okay I'll wait.  
_ **"i'm not gonna grow a second head, alphys. they've read like that since forever, i assume, because every scan i've done has turned out the same."** Or the ones Gaster did...  
"But they- wait. Why were you doing scans on y-yourself?"  
 **"because… i was trying to figure out why my magic was 'broken'. or, that's what I thought when i first realised it worked differently, that i wasn't doing more than 1 damage. i... kinda... snuck down here and did a few scans under different conditions but nothing changed them that i could find beyond the standard of the readings being slightly higher whilst channeling magic."  
** "D-Different how?"  
 **"it's really, really hard to explain, not least because i don't understand it. karma is the best way i can describe it."  
** "...I don't… understand… and I c-can't even begin to understand until I at least see-"  
 **"no. it's something that i can only show, not tell, and you don't need that right now."**

 _You're going to have to.  
 **i didn't ask you. alph's just started-**_

"Sans." She levels him with a look which cuts into his line of thought. "Y-you came to me f-for help… y-you've dumped all this information o-on me th-that I can't t-tell anyone… and now you're going to th-throw all of i-it away b-because y-you don't f-feel like it?"  
" **..."** _She has a point. If you want us to solve this, we need ALL the information. You can't just hold out now. She knows the worst of things anyway.  
 **but-  
** She's gonna feel bad, yes, but you… you need to do this. And, also, it's her choice. Beside's, it's about time you got your own answers about your magic, so you can put your own doubts at ease. I haven't forgotten our little chat… have you?_

He holds out his hand, and a bone materialises just above his palm, blue and ethereal. Heh, blue stop signs.

" **you need to be sure before you pass through it, alph. it's… not going to feel good."** He takes a moment to look through her, and isn't surprised. The DT mistakes took a pretty large toll on her soul, not enough that she started to distance, but enough that things were probably just about to take a very large nosedive south. **"it's** _ **really**_ **not going to feel good."** She brings her hand up, touching his arm lightly and taking a moment to really pull herself together and speak firmly.  
"I need to know to be able to help. You… you never ask anyone for help, you've carried all this information that would have driven anyone mad... alone. I need to do this, because you deserve helping as much as anyone else does." And with that, she passed a claw through the bone.

She comes to, throat sore from crying and with Sans holding each side of her face. He looks terrified, and Frisk over his shoulder is looking equally worried. She sees half a bisicle in his hand, then tastes the sweetness on her teeth and feels the food converting to energy which transfers to HP to fill the void.  
 **"you're okay, alph. you're okay. please be okay."  
** "..." her eyes focus more and he notices that she's actually looking into his eye sockets.  
 **"thank god. eat the rest of this, it'll help. i can't… i can't heal you."**

She takes it and starts eating it quietly. He's right, as the HP is restored, it feels like hooks are being slowly removed out of her back. Not hooks, claws. Claws and weights. As soon as she feels better, she thinks of the chart's readings. Patience. Justice. Ha, justice. So, so, so fitting for how that's just done a number on her and how things are running through her head. She starts laughing, and it feels like she'll never stop. Both Frisk and Sans look at each other, waiting nervously for it to pass. As soon as she can breathe, she makes an effort to wipe the tears out of her eyes. They weren't happy laughs - she could still feel herself teetering on the edge of hysteria.

"Well. Your m-magic definitely isn't b-broken."

 **"don't worry about-"**

"No. let me just…" She takes a breath, and gathers herself together, making an effort not to stammer to sound firm. "Sans… I know you. Or, a-at least how you work when you're in the lab and how you attack a problem. You're going to have your own theory a-already, and you're just looking for someone to back it up or disprove it. I d-don't appreciate being used like that, you might not have intended it to be like that but that's how it feels. I'm just… I'm going to tell you what you want to hear without you interrupting and you're going to leave." She's tired and hurting. She's going to regret talking to him like this later, she knows it but right now, she can't find it in her to care about his feelings and just wants to push him away as far as possible. It feels like after everything first went wrong. "Your magic feeds from the high levels of justice in your soul, probably, and to a lesser extent the patience. They probably keep each other in check enough that your body can hold itself together, but only barely. My guess without tests is that the levels counteract each other and from that you are still alive without your soul tearing itself apart, but with one single hit point." She chuckles harshly. "If we'd known about this, maybe the DT experiments might have gone differently. Maybe we could have actually saved everyone. But because you can't ever ask for help, they failed and we failed. Your magic attacks the essence of a monster, it makes wounds on the soul based on how much they 'deserve' it. Hope that tells you what you need because I'm going to go… anywhere that's not here."

She stands and walks off, and Frisk watches Sans closely.

He gives **she's right of course, yet another thing you've gone and fucked up, Sans** no indication that the words had **more dust on your hands but I suppose in this case it's not technically dust, just goop of monsters that had fallen down** any effect on him, standing as casual as always. Frisk hated trying to read the skeleton, they still failed miserably at it. However, Sans could still read them like a book. **"i can see what you're thinking. do what you will kiddo, you will anyways. make sure you do it for the right reasons, though. she didn't say anything untrue."** He looks after where Alphys went, and shoves his hands in his pockets. " **and if you do, just… tell the other sans that we have the right idea; it's linked. he'll explain, i'm sure."** and he blinks out. Frisk chews their lip, trying to decide. They nearly don't, but... he left them down here without taking them with him. That worries Frisk for a reason they can't put their finger on, and even worse - they are 1000 percent sure they won't find him if they tried.

Sans nods at Frisk from the bottom of the escalator, and Frisk shakes their head sadly. Sans pauses then backs off from the escalator. He opens a shortcut and they head back to the house. Together.


	12. Chapter 12 - the end is never the end

/Welp. Besides possible one shots, side stories and the like, this is it guys. much love xxxx

p.s. I'm really sorry the ending is this short, I suck at writing endings. every. Single. Time.\\\

* * *

 _ **the kiddo hasn't said anything since we got home. was it that bad?**  
You know them, they don't say all that much unless they need to.  
 **yeah, no. that expression on their face is no good.  
** Why don't you ask them instead of me.  
 **because you're less likely to tell me what i want to hear and more likely to tell me what actually happened.  
**...Alphys freaked. What more is there to say? I didn't understand half of the words that came out of your mouth and it was freaky, I can't imagine what it was like to someone who actually knows what quantum whatsits are. So, Frisk loaded the save._

He has the feeling that he's not being told the truth, or at least, not all of it. He's going to have to also ask Frisk, but he doesn't know how to even start that conversation. He goes for **"sorry things didn't go as we hoped, kiddo."** They just shrug. There's a minute of awkward silence before he decides to just ask straight up as obviously there's not going to be any more information forthcoming without prompting. " **did we at least get the information we needed?"  
** "Before I loaded, you told me to tell you that you had the right idea, it's linked." Sans gives it a moment, but Frisk says nothing more. He's definitely not being told everything, he can feel it and see it on Frisk's face.

 _Does that mean you can finally tell us what the hell happened?_

 _ **well, like i say. i'm not an expert in souls and magic. but…**_ " **educated guess as you had to load, but probably when chara latched on, the magic in my soul grabbed 'em, basically. which is because it effects things more on a soul level than a physical one, i think. i was probably pretty determined and not just in the normal sense that you weren't going to leave that hall and that you were going to pay for what you'd done. Between the dt infusion and the weird soul levels-"** His soul twists in a deep guilt as he mentions them, but can't remember why. Now he knows he's not being told everything. " **-you received justice that persisted outside of time. but that still leaves us on square one of how to fix it though, unless alph had any bright ideas before…"** Frisk just shakes their head again.

 _I still don't know if that's a good idea.  
 **hmm?  
** If it's because of your magic that the LOVE was cleared from my spirit, I don't know how splitting from you is going to affect it. maybe we should get the barrier broken, then go from there.  
_"I think we should go to the castle and finish the run. We'll have the same time on the surface to fix this, and Chara's not able to take over my reset if they're with you. So… maybe this _is_ the best ending we can get."  
 _Ha. Outnumbered.  
_ He thinks about it, and nods. **"well, you both want to get this done, so how about we take you to meet king fluffybuns."**

Frisk smiles and take Sans' hand, grasping onto the boney appendage "shortcut? it's a long way to walk for a lazy bones like you." Sans chuckles, but he's picking up on the wierd tone. Was Frisk trying to make him feel better about something?  
 _ **what are you two not telling me?**_  
 _That... is the property of Nunya._ **  
 _fine._** He can't help but laugh, though. that's fair, he supposes.

He stands and opens a shortcut to the castle, and Frisk gives him a small smile before stepping through. Once they step out into the twilight coloured hall, Frisk pulls out their cell and makes a few phone calls while gesturing at Sans to wait. It's not long before their friends start arriving. They walk through to the throne room, and asgore's mid plant watering. He turns to face the group of people. "Oh, hello everyone. Well this is a pleasant… oh. The human." he sighs softly, and Toriel steps forward.  
"Asgore, you _will not_ harm this child!"  
"T-Tori…"  
"No. Don't you _dare_ Tori me! Coward!"  
" **hehe, looks like you've got her goat, king fluffybuns. I wouldn't push it, you'll be in for a ba-a-ahd time."** There's a collective group of groans and facepalms, apart from Toriel who's threatening manner drops momentarily to snicker.  
"SANS, NO!"  
"This is the final battle! You can't ruin it with your crappy puns, dork!"  
"...Well... I seem to be rather outnumbered here, I fear."  
"We can solve this without fighting." Frisk says softly. "I could lend you my soul for you to break the barrier." Asgore looks in surprise and Frisk steps forward with a smile.

Asgore mills it over, and then looks at his wife, ready to tear him a new one at a moment's notice. He missed her…. But not her stink eye.

"That sounds nice…. Then maybe we could have a cup of tea?" Frisk nods, and they all walk through towards the barrier with Undyne just slumping with disappointment. "Aww, no final battle?" as Alphys pats her with a claw.

 _Sans. Be ready.  
 **doesn't look like this is going to be a fight.  
** Asriel will still come. He'll have found out somehow, even though it wasn't him who told Papyrus to phone everyone. He's always watching. He's going to absorb everyone… we need him to if we can try to save him.  
 **you sure?  
** I... think so? This is so different… But, he always comes. He's… the one that never gets saved. And maybe with everything so different, this time…?  
 **maybe.  
** I've heard that tone before. You have a plan?  
 **i'm gonna wing it. trust my gut.  
** You don't have any guts! Don't do anything stupid!_

They all walk through to the barrier, except for Sans. He hides himself in the shadows of the corners of the throne room and waits for his moment.

 _I really hope you know what you're doing_.  
 _ **me too.**_

It doesn't take long.

"You IDIOTS. while you were talking, I got the souls. Now, all of your souls are going to be mine-" _**w** **elp, that's our cue**_. He opens a shortcut ready "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHGGGGGGHHHHHHH! WHERE'S THAT FUCKING SMILEY PIECE OF TRASH?!"  
 **"hope you don't mind me dropping in."** He steps out into the air, summoning bones to cut through the vines making them drop everyone and landing next to Frisk. They look at him, and he drops a wink. **"two skulls are better than one, eh? or even three?"**

"You _really think_ you can make a difference?! You idiot. IDIOT! I ALREADY ABSORBED THE HUMAN SOULS. I'M ALREADY A GOD!" the vines whip out and wrap their friends up again, but it bought just enough time for the new not-plan, as Frisk nods beside him and holds out a palm to their side. "IF YOU'RE SO KEEN TO SEE ME DESTROY EVERYTHING FROM THE SIDELINES, THEN _fine._ NOT LIKE YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, SMILEY TRASHBAG!"

Frisk's soul sparks to life in their palm. He takes hold of it, and feels them pour their soul into it. A rush of energy fills him, and he smirks. The flower's expression flickers for a moment before contorting into a grin.  
 **"let's finish this, shall we? this has been a long, long time coming."  
** _Don't kill him!_ Both cry at him in unison as he summons an army of blasters.  
 _ **i know, i know. and chara… try not to vomit.**_ He mentally grins, and they blow a raspberry as Frisk giggles.  
 _I know the drill. Let's do this._

The souls whir around the flower, and it transforms.

Attacks fly thick and fast on both sides, Sans teleporting to the smalles of gaps between attacks and returning fire. He wouldn't normally use unanchored teleports because of how much more magical energy they use and the risk of miscalculating the landing points, but right now the human soul's energy and Frisk and Chara's determination fill his soul and keep the magical energy from flagging, and he has to keep all three alive which means he has to use any pathway possible. The humans keep an eye out for possible attacks from behind and the side while he focuses on the front and getting them to the narrow gaps between the barrage of attacks. His attacks don't do much but still he chips away regardless. Chara's keeping a steady flow of instructions coming when suddenly from inside his soul

*Frisk calls for help

He feels it resonates against their soul, and the TV screen on the flower-machine responds with a warning sign.

 _ **Whatever you just did, keep doing it.**_

The teleports, Flowey's bullshit timeline hopping, Frisk's calls for help. The battle was intense, and long, but through perserverance and determination eventually the souls have all rebelled against the monster and between their aid and a constant barrage of blaster fire and piercing bone it's driven down to a dishevelled flower form. "Just... finish it, trashbag. We both know you want to."

*CHARA calls for help.

"Wait, what are you-"

*CHARA calls for help.

"Ch- Chara?"

*Chara calls for help.

They notice that tears start to form in the flower's eyes., something resonates in him.

*Chara calls for help.

"St-stop it. Y-y-you're making me… c-cry... Chara…" light takes over his form.

*Chara calls for help

"I always…. Was the crybaby of us, huh?" and there stands a little goat, rubbing at his eyes with a paw, sniffling.

 _ **talk to him.  
**_ "A-Asriel… you have the souls… help us end this. Please. I don't… want everyone to hurt any more. I… remember… what it was like when I first fell. How it was when you found me. And everyone… That means you too."  
"B-but…"  
"I'm sorry, Az. I hurt you too, more times than we can count, but not anymore. you're my brother, I remember what the means and how it feels. And I know with those souls, you can too. We can finish this now, without needing to spill any more blood or dust. Help Frisk. Help _us_." They open Sans' hand and let it hover in the palm, shining brightly even against the backdrop of the barrier.

 _ **you two... i don't know if...  
** It's okay. The souls are filling him with compassion right now. He's not flowey right now… he's just Asriel. _

Asriel stares at the soul, before slowly bringing up a paw to touch the soul. Next thing Sans knows, a blinding flash of light and a swell of power, and they watch the barrier break. He can feel Chara trying to reach out, and he just lets them carry on doing what they need to do. His body immediately closes the gap and throws his arms around the small monster, crying as well. He just watches in silence, but feeling pleased with Chara. Frisk is stood to the side, watching with a smile and watery eyes as well, human souls having been released at the break.

"Chara… I'm sorry…"  
"I know. Me too, az. Me, too." They pull away from him and gives him a beaming smile.  
"No, but… I mean, I can't…. Once I release the-" Chara stops him by putting a finger on his muzzle.  
"I know. It'll be okay. Promise."

 _ **you shouldn't make promises if you don't know if you can keep them.  
** It'll be okay somehow, I'm sure of it.  
_

Asriel spreads his arms wide and gives a wide smile, releasing all the souls. Their friends reappear in the cavern, and Asriel's visage is gone. Sans feels himself being pushed back into the foreground, and Chara retreat to a corner of his mind in solemn silence. Everyone heads out to mouth of the cavern, everyone saying their goodbyes… well, more like see-you-laters. Sans takes a moment to stand in the sun, letting the sun warm his face as his mind slowly turns over. Frisk is also stood with their face upturned, and they let the moment stretch out quietly. Even Chara, although they can sense his mind ticking over, doesn't say anything torn between enjoying the sunset and mourning over Asriel.

" **go with tori and the others, bud. i got a couple of things i need to do... i'll catch up."** Frisk cocks a questioning look at him, but he shrugs. They sigh, resigned to not knowing anything yet again, but turn to follow the other monsters down. They turn to pause and look back, and he throws them a quick thumbs up, before turning back towards the underground.

 _Where are you going? What is there left to do? You're out and free, you should be enjoying it with everyone else. Ot at least your brother.  
 **nothing for you to worry about. 'sides, it's not like it's the first time is it?  
** So that means you either don't have a plan and are flying by the seat of your pants again, or you don't believe Frisk's not going to reset?  
 **nah, just keeping an idiot in suspense.**_ He chuckles.  
 _What are you on about?_ His laughter only gets harder while they wait for an answer. Finally: _HEY!_

He walks back through to the throne room, waves a hand at the wall. The shortcut opens but he doesn't walk straight through it. He lingers in the throne room, and he has to wonder to himself if he is actually about to do the right thing. Chara's gone back to sitting quietly in a corner, thoughtful and also pouting slightly over the joke, and he pushes his personal feelings aside and steps through. It's not like it's just him he's thinking about right now.

" **everyone's gone, you know."  
** "Sm- Sans? What are you doing back here? Shouldn't you have left with everyone else?" The small goat was kneeling tending to the golden flowerbed that had broken every human's fall.  
 **"eh, i'll catch up. i always do"** he waves an unconcerned hand.  
 _I can feel you flagging as well as you can, now Frisk's soul has gone.  
 **i can manage a few more before i**_ **have** _ **to nap. don't worry about it.  
** Well, one of us has to. You're obviously not.  
_"D-Did Chara ask you to come back… because they know I'm going to go back to… being a flower… and I don't want to... I'll be soulless again..."  
 **"nope. i'm here out of the kindness in my ribcage. although they're glad they get to see you again, they have no idea what i'm doing here."  
** Asriel laughs soft and sad. "eww, your jokes are as bad as mom's. so what are you doing here?"  
 **"i came to make an offer, actually. while you've got the residual energy to make what you think is actually the right choice rather than spitting spiteful shit at me."  
** _What?_ "What?" he hears it in stereo. As a reply, he simply pulls a spare flowerpot plucked from the true lab and holds it in a boney hand.  
 _Sans? When did you- ...why? You hate him.  
 **with every single fibre in my being, and that's not changed. i won't forgive or forget. but you made a promise, didn't you?**_  
He's met with silence internally. Asriel spills a couple of tears the corner of his eyes. "I d-don't… understand why you…"  
" **you've got a lot of people that care about you, kid. think about it, i'll be back."** He places the flowerpot at his feet, and turns, starting to walk back to Snowdin through the ruins.

 _You're not doing this just for me, though. Are you?  
 **does it matter?  
**_ Stone gives way to snow, crunching quietly underfoot.  
 _That's a no then.  
 **thought you'd be jumping for joy. you want me to leave him here?  
** If you're thinking about using him for some sort of ulterior moti-  
 **careful, kid, you're getting dangerously close to offending me.  
**_ They sigh, and lapse into silence feeling completely baffled - they aren't ever going to understand him, are they? They're nearly in town before Chara speaks up again. _What are you doing back here, anyway?  
 **stuff.**_ He gets a growl of frustration, but he keeps heading straight for the house and the hidden door. He pushes it open.  
 _Why… are you… in here?_ He doesn't answer, heading for the momento drawer and the notepad. He starts making unreadable notes. _You are so frustrating!  
 **i** **get that a lot**_ he shrugs with a smirk. It takes him a while, but he writes the most in-depth notes of this timeline he's made in a long, long time. Chara doesn't bother asking again, which is more than fine. He's just doing the usual… preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. _**l** ** _e_ t's go see if he's made a decision.**_

Chara doesn't reply, and they walk in silence back through to the bed of golden flowers.

Papyrus is starting to worry, stood at the foot of the mountain with Frisk. He knows his brother has a habit of disappearing for no good reason but he'd thought that Sans wouldn't have wasted any time coming to finally enjoy the sun with him.  
"DO YOU THINK HE HAS FOUND SOME TROUBLE IN THERE?"  
" **aww, you gettin' bonely waiting for me pap?"  
** Papyrus spins on his heels, eyes goggling for a second between his brother suddenly being behind them and at the fact that "OF COURSE YOU APPEAR WITH A TERRIBLE PUN." but relief is in his voice.  
 **"you're still smiling."  
** "AND I HATE IT." Sans and Frisk share a laugh, but Frisk's is cut short when they see what's in his hand.

The small yellow flower waves a leaf at Frisk and Papyrus nervously, and Frisk takes him with a squeal of delight. Papyrus looks ecstatic too. Sans'll have to keep a very close eye on that.

" **c'mon. let's go home… new new home, knowing asgore."**

* * *

 **/** There you have it! Hope you enjoyed it! bonus fact: Sans get about 3 foot before Papyrus has to carry him the rest of the way because he fell asleep from blowing through his magic XD \\\


End file.
